Sadness as 'hugely popular pub' The Boat left to 'rack and ruin'
A councillor has spoken of his sadness that a former pub has been left to rack and ruin, after more than a dozen firefighters were called to deal with a blaze there.
The fire originated from a caravan and spread into the old building which was once The Boat on Bentley Road South yesterday afternoon.
West Midlands Fire Service was unable to confirm whether the flames were started deliberately or not.
No-one was reported injured from the incident.
The road was temporarily closed while firefighters tackled the blaze.
Councillor Doug James, who represents Darlaston, said: "The pub has been eyesore for months now. It was out of the public eye because of the road closures to do with the new road developments in the area.
"Now we have had several firefighters there dealing with the problems.
"It is such a shame because The Boat used to be hugely popular in the area and because of the decline in the pub trade generally it became vacant. Since then it has fallen into rack and ruin. It is not the first time it has been set on fire. There mustn't be much of it left now."
A force control spokeswoman said: "We were called around 3pm to an incident which started in a caravan but spread to a pub. It used to be The Boat."
Willenhall Fire posted pictures to its Twitter feed showing smoke coming through the burnt out windows shortly after the flames were extinguished.
The inside of the pub, which has been hit by fire before, was also shown to be charred with blackened roof beams.
The back of the property was also visibly burnt.
The pub shut down in 2006 and was hit by arsonists a year later.
In 2009 a car wash was set up illegally on the car park which was closed by Walsall Council in a crackdown.
At one point there was a bid to demolish the pub and start up the business legitimately.
