A blaze broke out in the kitchen of a pub at Blue Bell Hill near Chatham just before lunchtime opening today.

The landlord of the Robin Hood in Common Road tried to tackle the flames with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived just after 11am.

He was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

It is believed to have been started by Sunday roasts over-heating in the oven.

Three crews, two from Medway and one from Strood used breathing apparatus to contain the fire.

Strood crew manager Ken Spratt said: "It had the potential to have been a lot worse because of the type of building it is.

"Our advice in cases like this is not to try and deal with it yourself. Call us and let us deal with it."

Landlord Andy Selby who has run the pub with wife Kelly for more than two years, said they managed to open at about 1pm.

He said: "Thankfully my wife and kids weren't here. It was just me and our chef Nim Banfield.
"I did get a bit of a telling off by the firefighters for going back in, but it's my pub."

The country pub, which is 700 years old and has its own conservatory restaurant, is particularly popular with families on Sunday lunchtimes.

Andy, 44, said: "We're only selling drinks at the moment until we get the place cleared up, but hopefully we'll be up and running by the end of the week."