A FIRE which tore through a Cardross pub days before it was due to reopen for the festive season under new management was started deliberately.

Police confirmed the blaze at the Cardross Inn on December 6, was now being treated as a wilful fireraising following an investigation.

But officers told the Reporter there is “no indication” at this stage the fire is linked to a blaze which destroyed a B&B in Helensburgh earlier this week, which was also started deliberately.

Five people had to be rescued from Killin Cottage, in the town’s Lomond Street, when flames ripped through it in the early hours of Tuesday, December 19.

After examining the scenes of the two fires, police say they now believe that both were started wilfully.

But a police spokeswoman told the Advertiser: “There is no indication at this time that the two fires are linked.”

The property’s owner, her two children, and two guests, were evacuated unharmed after the fire was reported at 1.25am.

Three Scottish Fire and Rescue Service appliances were mobilised in response to reports of the Cardross Inn fire on December 6, and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used high powered hoses to extinguish the flames.

No-one was present at the time.

The fire happened just over a week before the pub was due to open to the public under new management, and forced the new managers to cancel around 100 pre-Christmas bookings.

The cost of the damage to the pub has been estimated at tens of thousands of pounds.

Police ask that anyone who saw anything suspicious in the vicinity of the Cardross Inn shortly before 2am on December 6, or near to Killin Cottage in Helensburgh’s Lomond Street at around 1am on December 19, call 101 to pass on their information.

For the Cardross Inn incident, the public is asked to quote incident 0231 of December 6; for the Killin House fire, quote incident 0167 of December 19.