THE owner of a thatched pub near Bicester has praised the fast response from emergency services after a fire.

A chimney fire broke out at the Horse and Groom pub in Caulcott at about 6pm on Friday.

Two crews from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to tackle the blaze and customers were evacuated.

Owner Jerome Prigent said: “It was lucky the fire service were here so quickly with the fire in Oxford [at the Randolph Hotel] as well, because it is an old thatched building.

“One guy driving past stopped because he could see the smoke and flames coming out the top but I knew straight away as I could smell it. We spent the night cleaning the carpets and managed to get rid of the smell so we could open as normal. The fire service came to do checks at 3am and again at 11am because there is a very old beam that goes through the chimney, so they were concerned about that.”

The fire only affected the chimney and did not spread any further through the building.

Fireighters left the scene at about 9pm and nobody was injured.

The pub opened the following day as usual.

Mr Prigent, who has owned the pub for eight years, added: “It was going to be the last fire of the season as it was quite cool.

"It will definitely be the last now.”