The landlord of an east London pub and his dog were rescued when fire swept through the premises during the night.

The man was led to safety by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus as the blaze spread through the first-floor of the White Lion pub at Central Street in Shoreditch at 1.30am.

Fire crews then found his Jack Russell named Molly hiding under a chair in the bar on the ground-floor and got it to safety.

Ambulance paramedics treated the landlord at the scene for the effects of breathing smoke, but he wasn’t taken to hospital.

All the windows on the first-floor were blown out by the intense heat by the time crews arrived from Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Islington and Euston fire-stations, but no-one was injured.

The fire reached the timber beams in the roof, but there was no danger of collapse.

The cause of the blaze, which took nearly two hours to bring under control, is being investigated.