The company was fined £15,000 for the offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and was ordered to pay the prosecution’s costs.

The offences came to light after Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service attended an incident at the pub on 5 October 2008. After an investigation by officers, charges were brought against the management company as the tenants at that time. The company was charged with failing to carry out or record a fire risk assessment, failure to have effective policies for protection and prevention measures, and the failure to provide suitable and sufficient information to the pub’s sub-contracted licensee.

The prosecution is pursuing separate charges against an individual in connection with the case.

"It is rare for a fire and rescue service to undertake prosecutions but, on this occasion, the offences were so severe we felt it was in the public interest to pursue charges," said a group manager of Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service. "What this case has shown very clearly is that management companies always have a duty to ensure that public safety is not compromised, even if they have sub-contracted someone to act as licensee."

Since these offences came to light, the pub has changed management and subsequent inspections have shown that the issues highlighted by this case have been addressed. In addition, the management company has introduced stringent new management procedures to ensure that something like this does not happen again in premises it is responsible for.