FIREFIGHTERS were called to the Old Ferry Boat in Holywell on Saturday after a fence and outbuilding caught fire next to the pub building.

Three crews attended the blaze at 6am which Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service have said was started accidentally by a person.

A resident living close to the pub described “a column of flames and smoke” close to the Old Ferry Boat which has a thatched roof.

A spokesperson for the fire service said: “Something was placed in a rubbish bin which caused the fire.

“We do not know what it was but we are confident it was not deliberate.”

The crews extinguished the fire before it could reach the pub and returned to their stations by 7.45am.