Arson charge after hotel guests evacuated from Stoke-on-Trent fire

1 March 2021

A man has been charged with arson after a fire on the fifth floor of a hotel.

About 20 guests had to be evacuated after the fire broke out at the Hilton Garden Hotel on Leonard Coates Way in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on Sunday.

Emergency services were called to the hotel, which opened last year, at about 04:30 GMT and extinguished the blaze within an hour.

Simon Baddeley, a 39-year-old from Burslem, is due to appear before North Staffordshire magistrates later.

There were no reported injuries after the fire at the 140-room hotel which spans eight floors and the venue confirmed it re-opened later that day.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

Preferred candidate chosen to be new fire chief

Glynn Luznyj has served with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service for more than 30 years.

Services are not expected to return to normal between Wilmslow and Crewe on Tuesday, rail bosses say.

A number of items were stolen from the hospice shop in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, according to police.

Keele University has been awarded £11m to establish a mental health research hub.

Grassroots venue owners say they don't do it for the money, it's the passion for it that drives them.