Huge flames engulfed a boat after it caught fire near a busy pub.

The small vessel, which was in the rear garden of a home in High Street, Earls Colne, near the back of the Drum Inn, was fully alight by the time two fire crews from Halstead arrived at about 11pm last Saturday.

Robin Bragg, 54, of Brewery Drive, Halstead, was at the pub at the time.

He recalled: “We were at a friend’s leaving party and somebody had gone outside for a smoke or something and came back in saying there was a fire.

“It was more than a fire, it was totally ablaze. The flames were huge."