URGENT support has been promised to families who have been left homeless as a result of a devastating fire.

Tendring Council bosses have vowed to do all they can to assist those impacted by a fire which started at the Hanover Inn, in Church Street, Harwich, on Tuesday.

The blaze, which destroyed the pub and neighbouring historic cottages, left 177 properties without power for the majority of the day and two families with nowhere to live.

Tendring Council subsequently opened a rest centre which was manned by volunteers and several businesses within the town also opened their doors to anyone in need of assistance.

Ian Davidson, chief executive of Tendring Council, has said staff will continue to help those affected in the same way they did in the immediate aftermath of the fire.

“Our staff worked all day to help our emergency services colleagues with this complex fire in the heart of historic Harwich,” he said.

“This included setting up a rest centre, which was open to households who were unable to get to their homes as a result of the incident.

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“Our housing team is also working with those families sadly left homeless by the fire, and we will be supporting them into temporary accommodation should they require it.

“I am pleased no-one was hurt and thank our colleagues in the emergency services for their hard work, and the public for their support and patience.”

The fire saw a total of 11 fire crews and two aerial ladder platform teams rush to the Church Street watering hole shortly before 8am.

After evacuating the surrounding area, the blaze was extinguished by just before 2pm, but crews remained at the site throughout the night.

Weeley firefighters and an aerial ladder platform team from Colchester fire station were still at the site on Wednesday morning dampening down several hotspots.

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Richard Oxburgh, vice chairman of the Tendring branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, said: “It is a massive loss because it is a fabulous and historic pub and has only recently been taken over and saved by new owners who were doing a great job.

“Everyone was shellshocked but positively, although you cannot replace history, I think the community is already pulling together and thinking about the rebuild project.

“From an ale-drinking perspective we want to send out love to the owners and staff and reassure them that if a rebuild can get going, we will back in as soon as we can.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire is now underway.