Derelict Selby pub targeted by arsonists (From York Press)

Derelict Selby pub targeted by arsonists

5:05pm Sunday 14th October 2012 in News By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk

A DISUSED pub has been the target of a second arson attack in less than six months.

Firefighters were called to the Friendship Inn, in Millgate, Selby, at about 8.30pm on Saturday, following a number of reports from the public of a fire in the first floor of the derelict pub.

Two crews from Selby arrived to find the building well alight, and spent almost two hours tackling the blaze. The fire crews also made a full search of the property to ensure nobody had been trapped in the burning building.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Fire Service said today that the fire “appeared to have started on the first floor and burned through”, and was believed to have been started intentionally.

He said the blaze caused “20 per cent fire damage to the bar, and the room above the bar”, and a fire service officer met with police at the site today, to discuss the fire.

This was not the first time the pub had been targeted by arsonists. On Thursday, May 31, three fire crews spent hours fighting a blaze at the property.

The property was sold at auction in 2010, and developers previously submitted a planning application to demolish the site and create six new properties in its place. The application was later withdrawn, and a second, similar submission made.

A number of nearby residents objected to the planning application, with one stating “The Friendship is a Selby building with history and character”, and urging for redevelopment of the site, rather than developers “destroying Selby's heritage”.

The planning application is still registered as pending consideration by Selby District Council.