A landlord is devastated after his newly-refurbished pub went up in flames.

Callum Christie, 46, returned to The Old Anchor pub in Feering early yesterday just as firefighters arrived to fight the blaze.

Shocked Mr Christie, of Kelvedon, said: "My whole life is in there."

Although the pub in Feering Hill was open to customers over the weekend without incident, alarmed neighbours rang the fire service at about 2.45am when they saw flames erupting from the building.

Nine crews from Colchester, Witham, Tiptree and Braintree arrived to discover the fire in the roof.

Fortunately no-one was in the pub or adjoining bed and breakfast accommodation. Mr Christie, who lives there, was out at the time, and his bull mastiff Roxy was at a friend's house elsewhere in the village.

The landlord, who had only just had the fire alarms serviced last week, said: "I've been here 16 or 18 months. I have just spent thousands and thousands of pounds doing it up, on repainting and building it up."

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