People fleeing 'massive fire' thank pub landlords who offered safety

Emergency services were called to a fire which started in the garden of a property in Mile Cross Lane near the Boundary Road junction around 11pm on Saturday night.

Staff from The Boundary in Aylsham Road rushed into the street as they watched flames billow across the skyline.

The view from Samantha Day's window looking out to the fire damaged Enterprise Rent-A-Car building (Image: Samantha Day)

Keen to offer help, they began redirecting traffic and closed early so that tenants living above the property where the fire broke out could come in for a drink and some food.

The shocked neighbours were also offered the chance to wash their clothes and charge their phones.

Samantha Day, 30, who lives in the flat above where the fire started, was among those who thanked landlady Kelly Freeman and her staff.

Samantha Day, who lived above where the fire started in Mile Cross Lane (Image: Samantha Day)

Miss Day said: "I went into full panic mode when I saw the flames. I suffer from PTSD but the pub staff were calming me down and everyone was so lovely."

Her home has been left with no power or gas and she will be moving out next week having been able to return to the flat on Tuesday evening following the blaze.

The fire which hit Enterprise in Mile Cross Lane, started around 11pm on April 16. (Image: Submitted)

She stayed at her partner's home nearby in the meantime.

Miss Day recalled seeing thick black smoke from her bathroom window on Saturday night, initially believing it was a bonfire.

She then saw the flames just outside her bedroom window before her partner told her to grab her clothes and run.

Outside waiting for her was landlady Miss Freeman and her brother Danny, who is a doorman at the venue, who began instructing traffic to help emergency services pass by.

Kelly Freeman, landlady of The Boundary and her brother Danny who is the doorman for the pub (Image: Kelly Freeman)

Miss Freeman said: "The only way to describe it was that it was very hot from the massive blaze. We signposted people to the pub as a safe haven.

"We sat with people until the early hours to check they were OK."

Kelly Freeman, landlady of The Boundary Pub in Aylsham Road, Norwich (Image: The Boundary)

The landlady described Miss Day as being "petrified" at the time.

Having never stepped foot in the pub before, Miss Day added when her family visit from London next weekend she will introduce them to her saviours.