A landlord and his wife escaped from a blaze unharmed after a possible arson attack on their East Sussex pub.

It is thought a missile was thrown through a window and set the bar area alight at the Wishing Tree pub in Wishing Tree Road North, St Leonards, early today.

Landlord Victor 'Mac' Penn, 61, and wife Lilian, 60, heard smashing glass as they lay in bed just before 1.30am today.

Mrs Penn - who has run the pub with her husband since 1996 - said: "We were both awake and just about to go off to sleep when we both heard the glass go.

"I thought we had burglars so I told Mac to call the police. But he went downstairs anyway, then came back up and said, 'We don't need the police - we need the fire brigade'."

Mr and Mrs Penn and their English bull terrier Mo escaped outside to wait for the fire brigade.

Firefighters managed to contain the blaze in the bar but Mrs Penn said the pub would be closed for at least a few days.

She added: "Everywhere is covered in soot. We can both do without all this at our age."

Fire brigade Assistant Divisional Officer Frank Davis said scenes of crime officers were at the pub today.

He added: "It is being investigated but it is too early to say whether it was arson. Luckily no one was hurt."

The pub is in the Hollington area of St Leonards, the same patch where boxer and father-of-three Jimmy Millen, 27, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting last month.