THE roof of a village pub was badly damaged by a fire early this morning.

More than 50 firefighters from Hampshire and Berkshire tackled the blaze at the Tally Ho, in Fleet Hill, Eversley, after being alerted by a member of the public shortly after 4am today.

The fire destroyed 50 per cent of the roof and first floor of the pub.

No one was in the building at the time of the blaze.

Crews from Basingstoke, Fleet and Hartley Wintney attended the scene and had extinguished the flames by around 8am. They are expected to remain on site for the rest of the day, putting out the smouldering remains.

Crew manager Dan Trump, based at Basingstoke fire station, told The Gazette: “The fire started at around 4am and quickly took hold of the building. The crews worked together and did a brilliant job bringing it under control.”

Six appliances and an aerial ladder platform were used at the incident, with two of the pumps coming from Basingstoke fire station.

The fire is not being treated as suspicious and an investigation into its cause is ongoing.