Firefighters had to hack a hole in the side of a town centre pub after timbers in its inner wall caught light.

Officers used an axe and a saw to remove smouldering wood from inside the front wall of the Bull pub in Market Place, Braintree.

They then used a thermal camera to scan the rest of the walls to check the fire had not spread further within the building.

Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus went to the top floor of the pub - which had a £500,000 refit in 1997 - and smashed a window to let smoke escape.

Shoppers looked on as about 20 firefighters from Braintree and Wethersfield carried out the operation from about 2pm on Monday.

Earlier in the day building contractors been working on a first floor roof ledge near where the fire was discovered.

Shaun Dedman, boss at the Bull, said: "It is just a bit annoying having to turf everyone out of the pub.

"We saw smoke coming out. We just could not work out where it was coming from."

Mr Dedman said the fire had started in the wall near his children's bedrooms.

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