Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Exeter fire rips through 'oldest hotel in England'

A fire in Exeter has destroyed historic buildings including what is described as the oldest hotel in England.

The fire began at around 05:00 BST in buildings on Cathedral Green in Devon and spread to the Royal Clarence Hotel, which dates back to 1769.

Guests have described being evacuated from the building, which dates back to 1769, amid flames, ash and debris.

Historian Dr Todd Gray said the Royal Clarence was the first venue in England to call itself a hotel.

Drone footage released by police has revealed the level of devastation.

South West Water has asked city centre residents to restrict water use and promised to supply bottled water for people struggling to get water from taps.

Image caption BBC reporter Simon Hall took this image and said the fire is visible from all around the city

Hotel guest Lucy, from Australia, told Radio Devon: "I was woken up by the fire alarm at five o'clock. Someone was banging on the door and all I could see were orange flames through the window.

"I grabbed my passport there was a lot of fiery ash falling down. The building was totally in flames."

A Canon at Exeter Cathedral said she had seen "flying debris".

Image caption The fire can be seen from the roof of Exeter Cathedral

Anna Norman Walker, who could see the fire from her window, said: "The main concern was a lot of debris flying from the roof of the affected building which was travelling - certainly some of it made it to the roof of the Royal Clarence Hotel."

The hotel has been evacuated and all staff and residents are accounted for. There are no reported casualties.

Image caption Exeter Cathedral staff have been giving out tea to people on site

Image caption The roof of the nearby Royal Clarence Hotel, reported to be the oldest hotel in England, is alight

Image caption Six fire engines were initially at the scene, but this was increased to 20

A spokesperson from the hotel said: "We are continuing to monitor the situation and send our sympathy to our neighbours and all those affected by the fire."

Talking about the hotel's history, Mr Gray said: "It's the building where they first declared themselves as a hotel, before that we had inns, but they took the new French word and applied it to their building. This was the place to stay.

"All these buildings have medieval origins and the buildings in between are very fine 17th century buildings of Exeter at its height. So whatever you see from the outside, it's got a deeper, more interesting past just behind the plasterwork.

"It's hugely significant for Exeter."

Analysis: Historian Dr Todd Gray

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Destruction of the fire-ravaged Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter would be a great tragedy because of its medieval past says a historian

Cathedral Green was the medieval hub of the city. It's not only where the church was concentrated, but it was the business hub of the city from the 15th to 18th centuries. This is where all the trade took place, this is where you did your business deals.

It was also where the anti slavery people met in the 1700s and 1800s, where they planned abolition.

Beatrix Potter came here in 1892 and looked out and said 'what a fine view this is'. It was the place to be.

But the hotel had a murkier past later on when it was where the fascists met in the 1930s.

Millions of people over the years have poured into the close to have a look.

Gentlemen would rent rooms all year just to have a presence in Exeter.

To lose this would be a great tragedy for Exeter. It's a key building - it's the heart of the city.

About 110 firefighters, police and paramedics are at the blaze, which began at about 05:20 BST.

They have have sent a team to take water from the river Exe "as a contingency measure".

Incident officer Bill Haberton, from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, said they were "throwing a lot of resources" at the fire.

He said: "We're going to be taking water from various locations because we're overrunning the water supply in the middle of Exeter at the moment."

A couple who live in a pub nearby evacuated for fear of the blaze spreading to their premises.

'Building went up'

Kirsty said the flames had gone up quickly.

She said: "We heard the noise and looked out the window and saw the flames and decided we didn't want to be there.

"We'd seen the flames go up, it's a bit scary really.

"The pub we live in is made of wood so we didn't want to be there really."

Rob added: "It brings it home a bit, it's a little bit scary. You don't think a building would go up that quick but it's gone."

As a result of the fire, Queen Street, High Street, Cathedral Green and other surrounding roads are closed.

Image copyright AP Image caption Witnesses described the fire as "scary"

Image copyright Dan Bullock Image caption There are no reported casualties at the scene in Cathedral Green

Image caption Six fire engines are at the scene, close to Exeter Cathedral

Image copyright SWW Image caption South West Water is laying on bottled water for people struggling to get water from taps</s>A hotel said to be the oldest in England burns in Exeter as firefighters attempt to contain the blaze. The fire has been ongoing for more than 24 hours and has been fed by ruptured fuel lines inside the Royal Clarence Hotel, which has stood on the site since medieval times. The cause of the fire is not thought to be suspicious</s>LONDON — A fire has severely damaged what is thought to be England's oldest hotel.

The blaze in the southwestern city of Exeter raced through the historic Royal Clarence Hotel, which overlooks the city's medieval cathedral.

Firefighters were still tackling the blaze on Saturday, a day after it broke out. The hotel, which had been operating under the name Abode Exeter, dates to 1769.

University of Exeter historian Todd Gray told the BBC that the venue was the first in England to declare itself a hotel.

"Before that we had inns, but they took the new French word and applied it to their building," he said. "This was the place to stay."

Gray says the building was "hugely significant" for the city.</s>A hotel in Exeter thought to be the oldest in Britain has begun to collapse as a huge fire continues to burn more than 24 hours after it broke out.

Gas from a ruptured mains has fuelled the flames of the blaze that began on Friday morning and has burned through the night.

Firefighters are still trying to contain the fire, opposite Exeter cathedral in the centre of the city, which has gutted the historic Royal Clarence Hotel and ravaged a number of neighbouring historic buildings.



Although Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service said that “steady progress is being made”, no end to the blaze appears to be in sight.

“Crews have confirmed that a gas main has ruptured inside the hotel on the ground floor, which is now well alight,” a spokesman for the fire service said early on Saturday.

“Gas engineers are on site trying to isolate the gas supply. Crews are currently using four jets, from four aerial platforms.”

Firefighters have been on the scene at Cathedral Yard since 5am on Friday. By Friday afternoon about 120 had been drafted in from across the region and were working to extinguish the fire.

Twenty fresh fire engines were needed to relieve crews working overnight, the fire service said. At one point all personnel were forced to retreat from the fire over fears it could collapse.

Earlier on Friday a fire brigade spokesman said the fire had started in the Exeter Gallery, which is opposite the cathedral. “That has [also] been completely destroyed,” he said, adding that it spread to the Clarence from there.

Concealed voids and passageways within burning buildings, as well as their timber construction made the fire difficult to deal with, the spokesman added.

Local historian Todd Gray said the hotel was “in the heart of what was not just the medieval city, but within the precincts of Roman Exeter”.

He said: “For 2,000 years this area has been the focus of the city’s religious and commercial life.”

The ground and first floors of the hotel were medieval and the upper floors were added in the late 1700s, when the building was renamed a hotel.

Gray told the BBC that the Clarence was “the building where they first declared themselves as a hotel. Before that happened [in the 1770s] we had inns, but they took the new French word and applied it to their building … this was the place to stay.”

He added: “What is so particularly heartbreaking about this loss is that these buildings escaped the blitz of 1942 when so much of Exeter was destroyed.”

Efforts to fight the fire were consuming much of Exeter’s water supply. South West Water told customers in the city centre it had been forced to make alterations to its mains network to support the fire service.

“As a result some customers in the city centre, and potentially in the Wonford area, may experience low pressure or discolouration of their water supply,” the company said in a statement. “The Royal Devon and Exeter and Nuffield hospitals will not be affected.”

The cause of the fire was not believed to be suspicious.</s>Firefighters are battling to save what is believed to be one of Britain’s oldest hotels, which is threatened by an out-of-control fire that has already destroyed neighbouring buildings.

About 120 firefighters are at the scene in central Exeter, Devon, trying to stop the blaze from spreading through the timber-framed Royal Clarence hotel, the roof of which has already been destroyed.

Reserve firefighters are among those who have been mobilised to work the 27 pumps, four aerial ladder platforms and high-volume pump deployed so far to try to put out the flames. However, by 1pm on Friday it was not yet under control, a spokesman for Devon and Somerset fire and rescue said.

The spokesman, who is at the scene, said: “It started in a building called the Gallery which is a row of buildings opposite the cathedral. That has been completely destroyed, but the fire has spread across the roof void to the roof of the Royal Clarence hotel, which is quite an old, famous landmark in Exeter. The roof has been basically destroyed by fire.

“Because of the complex structure of the old buildings here, we haven’t been able to put firefighters on the inside, so we’re fighting it from the outside. We’ve got the aerial ladder platforms so we are pouring water on top of it. We are trying to contain it, but there are signs now of damage to the initial bedroom floors of the hotel.”

Efforts to fight the fire have been consuming much of Exeter’s water supply. South West Water told customers in the city centre that it had been forced to make alterations to its mains network to support the fire service.

“As a result some customers in the city centre, and potentially in the Wonford area, may experience low pressure or discoloration of their water supply. The Royal Devon and Exeter and Nuffield hospitals will not be affected,” a statement from the company said.

The fire began just after 5am. By the afternoon, large crowds had gathered at police cordons surrounding Cathedral Green to watch, the fire service spokesman said.

“There is a large amount of smoke coming off the building,” he said. “It’s right in the centre of Exeter, so it’s getting a lot of attention from people watching what’s happening.”

Concealed voids and passageways within burning buildings, as well as their timber construction, were making the fire difficult to deal with. However, there have been no injuries and everyone believed to have been in the buildings has been accounted for, according to Devon and Cornwall police.

The local historian Dr Todd Gray told the BBC that the buildings under threat and those already destroyed were “hugely significant for Exeter”.

Describing the Royal Clarence hotel, he said: “It’s the building where they first declared themselves as a hotel. Before that we had inns, but they took the new French word and applied it to their building. This was the place to stay.”

Police have closed roads at the junctions of High Street and South Street, of South Street and the Cathedral Green, on Queen Street at the rear end of Tesco, on North Street at the Iron Bridge end, on Musgrave Road and on Bedford Square at the junction with High Street.

The cause of the fire is not believed to be suspicious.
A fire destroys the historic Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, Devon, which is described as the oldest hotel in England.