A COUPLE had a lucky escape after a fire started in their pub when they were in bed.

Licensee Jack Hadley and his wife, Diane, fled the Stag Inn, Henry Street, Church, after hearing a crackling noise in the upstairs lounge at 5am on Sunday.

Mrs Hadley had got out of bed to go to the toilet when she heard the noise and smelled smoke coming from the room in the flat above the pub.

They did not open the lounge door but left the pub by the back door and raised the alarm.

The blaze severely damaged the lounge and left the other upstairs rooms smoke logged.

Station officer Duncan Emmett, of Accrington Fire Station, said: They were very lucky. It could have been a lot worse if she hadn't got up at that particular time."

He said an investigation had shown the fire had been smouldering for some time and had either been started by a discarded cigarette or an electrical fault.

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