A former pub in Bootle was gutted by fire last night.
Firefighters from five engines and one aerial platform arrived at the scene of the blaze, at around 7pm on Wednesday, April 5. They found that the former Chaucer Vaults pub, on Chaucer Street near the corner of Sea View Road, was well alight.
All three floors were on fire with smoke and flames clearly visible through windows and coming out of the roof. Eyewitnesses at the scene also saw the roof crumble under the heat.
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Firefighters broke through windows to reach the blaze with hoses. The fire service confirmed the North West Ambulance Service was not called to the scene but that nobody was believed to be inside the building when the fire started.
Merseyside Police were called to help with scene management. Mike Clynch, station manager, said: "Crews have worked hard to fight this fire which involved all three floors of the building. We thank those in the local area who have taken our advice allowing us to resolve the incident safely."
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service will now likely remain at the scene until an dampening down is complete and an investigation into how the fire begun has started. The ECHO has previously reported on the former Chaucer Vaults pub as residents living in the area complained about fly tipping and antisocial behaviour.
On Sefton Council's planning application portal, it shows that an application was received in 2016 to change the former Chaucer Vaults pub into an 18 bedroom HMO. The design and access statement submitted said the pub had been closed for more than 20 years at the time of the application, with the application subsequently being dismissed.
Following the application being rejected, a further application asking for planning permission to transform the building into nine self-contained flats was also rejected in February 2017, with the application showing "insufficient regard to policy requirement(s)".
Finally, in September 2017, plans were approved for the building to be transformed into four flats with a communal space on the ground floor. Despite the approval of the plans, the building has been left derelict and run down.
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