A PUBLICAN has praised villagers for rallying around after an arson attack on a charity bonfire she was planning for Guy Fawkes Night.

Landlady Charlotte Brear, of the Black Lane Ends Tavern, near Colne, had left wood piled up outside the Skipton Old Road hostelry, ready for lighting.

But she was awoken just before 5am on Sunday to find the bonfire had already been ignited by intruders, leaving her fundraiser in question.

Charlotte said: "We had worked really hard to pull everything together and then our caretaker rang and told us someone had set fire to it."

She called in security consultant Lee Roberts and CCTV was checked. It appeared that the culprits may have entered the premises from the surrounding fields.

However a short time later, with Lee's help and a number of phone calls being made to local business and farmers, the pub's Bonfire Night charity spectacular was back on.

Charlotte, who has been running the Laneshaw Bridge pub since August, said: "It has just been absolutely unbelievable what our neighbours, businesses and farmers around here have been able to do.

"We've been working hard here, since taking over, and just wanted to give something back to the local community so we're really pleased with the response. They have been amazing."

Donations of wood have been dropped off, ahead of the bonfire being lit.

But some donors are delaying delivering larger items, to avoid a potential repeat of what happened in the early hours of Sunday.

Charlotte has worked in the pub trade for a number of years but Black Lane Ends is her first solo venture.