Half of a historical pub in Wiltshire has been completely gutted following a fierce fire in the early hours of Friday morning (16 July).

Around 40 firefighters attended the blaze at The Beckford Arms, in Fonthill Gifford – a B&B that recently appeared in The Sunday Times’ ‘Hot Hotels for 2010’ list.

Seventeen people staying at the hotel were led to safety and put up in B&Bs nearby, a spokesman from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service told info4fire.

The fire started in a bin store next to the building but it is not yet known how it was set alight. It took around 11 hours for crews to tackle the blaze and dampen down hot spots, with a stop message declared just before 2pm.

“It is an old building so there were lots of hotspots,” the fire service’s spokesman said. “Half of the building has been destroyed, with the right hand side completely gutted. The first floor has collapsed and the roof gone.” Around half of the property had smoke and water damage only, due to the structure of the building.

A car left in front of The Beckford Arms was destroyed and the porch of a nearby house suffered fire damage.

A message on the pub’s website last weekend read: “Very sadly we are sorry to inform all our customers that The Beckford Arms has suffered a major fire and therefore is closed until further notice. Fortunately, all of our guests were safely evacuated and no one was injured. We anticipate a major rebuilding which could take several months. “