Three people were rescued from the top floors of a pub after fire swept through it and caused thousands of pounds of damage.

Chris Servais, landlord of the Golden Martlet pub in Hellingly, near Hailsham, was woken at around 4.45am on Saturday by the smell of smoke and crackling of flames.

Mr Servais, who has run the pub for 23 years, said: "I thought the noise was someone trying to get into the bar area before I realised it was a fire.

"I was in there for about 20 minutes and I wondered how I was going to get out.

"The damage is quite severe. The bedrooms and the office are gone."

Firefighters, among a crew of 30, used a hydraulic platform to rescue Mr Servais and two tenants, Jonathan Jeffcoat and another unnamed man.

There were fears a fourth tenant, Teresa Gape, 23, was trapped and Mr Jeffcoat, 31, kicked down her bedroom door before he got out.

He said: "There wasn't much air so I had to go back to my room before I tried again. We were hoping and praying she wasn't in her room and thank God she wasn't.

"I was hanging out of my window by my fingers before I had a ladder put under my feet."

Mr Jeffcoat has cancer and just had time to collect his chemotherapy medicine before he was rescued.

Fire investigators said it was too early to tell how the blaze started.

Station Officer Paul Hardwicke, of Eastbourne fire brigade, said: "Part of the roof was burned completely through as well as the rooms.

"There was also a fair amount of water damage on the ground floor from burst pipes.

"We had pumps from Hailsham, Heathfield, Mayfield, Pevensey and Eastbourne and a relief crew from Bexhill."

Mr Servais said he would now be installing smoke detectors.