A “major” fire tore through a rugby clubhouse in High Wycombe in the early hours of this morning, forcing club members to cancel all rugby activities until after Christmas.

Around 20 firefighters were called to High Wycombe Rugby Union Football Club on Kingsmead Road at around 12.36 am to reports of a fire which caused “severe damage” to the ground floor store room and smoke damage to the first floor.

It is believed the blaze was caused by an electrical fault.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing thick black smoke pouring through the windows of the club and around five fire engines at the scene at 1am.

Kevin Tucker, who lives on Kingsmead Road, said: “It all started at about ten to one and I woke up and it was all beginning to kick off – there were about four or five fire engines.

“There was an awful lot of smoke pouring through the windows. I think they were getting quite worried because they have a load of beer canisters for pouring pints and if they catch alight it could be serious.”

A total of two fire engines and crews from High Wycombe, two from Beaconsfield and three officers helped to tackle the fire using two hose reels, four sets of breathing apparatus and a PPV fan.

A statement on the rugby club’s website said: “The clubhouse is out of bounds until insurance assessors have been in.

“Once they have been in we will take stock of the situation & advise accordingly. There will certainly be no rugby activity until Christmas if not later.

"We will need fire damage cleaning specialists to clean, especially upstairs & we will need major work on all services in the area.”

Senior training is still taking place every Tuesday and Thursday from 7.30pm.

More as we get it.

Are you a member of High Wycombe Rugby Club? Contact the newsdesk on 01494 755091.