The owner of a Rickmansworth-based bar, gutted by fire for the second time in a year, has spoken of his “nightmare”.

Six fire engines were called to The Globe Bar and Villa Romana in the High Street, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Despite nobody being hurt in the blaze, fire gutted the bar premises, and police have now launched an investigation into how it started.

This is the second time in recent months firefighters have been called to tackle a blaze at the bar.

On the morning of January 17, firefighters were called to the bar at 10.20am. The premises had extensive damage.

Brigel Culaj, bar owner, said: “The suggestion is that we have been deliberately targeted, someone has broken into the bar and set the fire.

“In January we had a fire, there was only a bit of smoke, but it caused some damage. We were ready to reopen properly this month.

“All of this is devastating to be honest. It’s a nightmare we are trying desperately to wake up from.

“It’s even more devastating to think that this is an intentional attack on our business.

“We have no concept of the cost of the damage or really the scale – upstairs is gutted and downstairs has lot of damage.

“We just don’t know when we are going to reopen.”