A Wiltshire pub is to close its kitchen for more than two weeks following a blaze that has completely destroyed the facility.

Customers and staff were evacuated from the J D Wetherspoons pub, The Bear pub in Melksham, on Sunday evening.

Duty manager Carol Coe said: "The staff were really calm and collected. They got everybody out straight away and there were no injuries.”

Firefighters from Melksham, Devizes, Trowbridge and Corsham were called out to the Bath Road premises at 7.16pm on Sunday (August 15).

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to a small fire in the kitchen.

They used four breathing apparatus and two hose reel jets to extinguish the fire before leaving the scene at 8.19pm.

The road was temporarily closed while crews dealt with the fire but the disruption to traffic was slight.

The pub’s kitchen is likely to be closed for two to three weeks while the area is refurbished and equipment replaced.

Duty manager Carol Coe said: “The kitchen has gone completely. It will all have to be ripped out.”

An investigation is under way into the cause of the fire. It is believed to have started in a microwave oven taken away for examination.