A PUB which has been boarded up since a man was beaten with a pool cue was badly damaged after it was set alight by vandals.

Firefighters have urged parents to keep their children out of the Commercial Hotel, Blackburn Road, Church, which caught fire.

Harold Johnson, 48, of Blackburn Road, Accrington, was attacked by his ex-girlfriend's nephew Peter Campbell in the pub last year and died from a heart defect an hour later. Campbell has admitted grievous bodily harm and will be sentenced next month.

Station officer Chris Hollis, of Accrington fire station, said: "The pub has been boarded up since the night when Mr Johnson died, but kids have been getting in and vandalising the place.

"The place has been quite badly damaged. Two rooms on the first floor have been destroyed by fire. One room on the second floor was fire damaged and the top two floors were smoke damaged.

"The pub is now very dangerous inside - staircases are missing. Children must stay away from the pub and their parents should warn them of the dangers."

Police spotted the fire on closed circuit television as smoke billowed out of an upstairs window. Officers are awaiting the firefighters' report before investigating the blaze.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.