Video: Chieftain Pub Blaze

THIS dramatic video footage shows the derelict Chieftain pub burning to the ground.

Flames ripped through the building in Cole Green Lane, WGC, on Friday evening - with fire crews battling through high winds to contain it.

Sandra Grice, who lives just yards away from the pub, said: "It was quite scary at first.

"I was in the kitchen and I went to pull the curtains and then I saw smoke billowing out.

"Then the fire service came along and cut through the fence around the pub and the fire started raging and the flames were huge.

"We were so lucky that our house was not affected. After reading in the WHT about the houses in Lemsford Road being so badly damaged by the big fire in Hatfield, we were extremely lucky.

"The worst off would have been the people around Wheatley Road area, because the wind was so strong and it was blowing that way."

She added: "Thank God no one was injured. Both the firefighters and the police were superb, we cannot thank them enough."

A 73-year-old woman said: "I watched it being built, now I'm seeing it being burnt down. It is such a shame.

"We have had many happy family occasions in the restaurant, it's a bit of a landmark round these parts; it really is disappointing."

Former borough councillor Alan Chesterman, who lives in Homestead Lane, opposite the pub, said: "It's a pity its come to burning down and not being knocked down."

However, not everybody was saddened to see it go.

James Leavey, from Peartree Court, said: "It's about time it burnt down. The Chieftain has always been a problem round here, it creates more havoc than its worth.

A 50-year-old woman from the Hall Grove area said: "The pub has always been known for trouble.

"Obviously it's not nice to see it burn down, but now that it has maybe they will turn it into something better.