A 53-year-old man has been charged with arson after a fire that destroyed the popular Banglo bar and restaurant in Bath.
Gary Whale, of Monksdale Road, Bath will appear before magistrates in the city today.
He faces two charges of arson with intent to endanger life, relating to the Banglo fire and a fire in recycling bins at the Green Park Tavern. He is also charged with arson after a rubbish bin was set alight.
Whale was previously given a 12-month conditional discharge back in April for using threatening and abusive behaviour.
The fire took hold of the premises just before 3am on Monday.
A number of fire engines from the Bath station attended the scene with firefighters using breathing apparatus and high power jets to battle the blaze.
Local resident Clare McEwan-Obi was in the Green Park Tavern next door at the time of the fire. She told NOW Bath that the GPT’s bouncers and staff alerted the drinkers to the scene, shouting to them to “get out, next door’s on fire”.
Clare went on to tell us: “When we got out it was literally blazing. You could feel the heat from by the car garage.”
