DEVASTATED staff at a newly refurbished pub, destroyed by fire, have visited the charred remains for the first time.

The Corner Club, on High Street, Canvey, was destroyed by a fire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Staff members visited the site of the former pub yesterday to see first-hand the damage the blaze caused.

The huge fire required up to 50 firefighters at its height, and also destroyed a wood yard, shops and an industrial unit next to it.

The Canvey Club closed down ten months ago, but co-owners Lee Petch and Frank Bennett, who runs a fruit and vegetable stall full-time, bought the pub and ploughed thousands of pounds into refurbishing it.

The pair had been talking about opening a venue together for a couple of years, and were delighted that just four months after opening they had already got 500 members as part of its club.

Mr Petch recalled his shock at seeing the flames. He said: “I received a phone call from our security people saying the alarm at the club had gone off, so I drove down at 4.15 am and just saw the flames.”

Mr Petch, who spent the best part of 100 hours a week at the club to make it a success, had the unenviable task of calling his co-owner to tell him their dream had just gone up in smoke.

He said: “We were just getting the place to where we wanted it to be.”

He has vowed to rebuild the Corner Club, but this might be problematic because the rebuild would be classed as a new planning application and would hit building restrictions currently imposed on Canvey because of its flood risk.

Despite this, Mr Petch said he would do everything he could to bring the club back.

He said: “We know it could be a struggle because of certain restrictions, but we are going to start petitions because it was a popular place and we know people want it back.

“I spoke to a builder who came and had a look at the site, and he told me it would certainly be possible to rebuild it on the current site.”