THE owner of the Hole in the Wall has praised the bravery of firefighters for saving the pub and has vowed to try to re-open within six months.
George Sloan said he was "absolutely devastated" to see the huge scale of the damage following last month's fire.
While putting a time scale on reopening the popular venue in Little Castle Street was difficult, Mr Sloan said he was forever in-debt to the firefighters for "aggressively" tackling the blaze from the inside and leaving him with something to salvage.
He said: "They made a decision to go inside and tackle it at its height despite an element of great danger.
"They showed incredible bravery by aggressively fighting it in full darkness in a building full of smoke.
"Had it not been for their actions there is no doubt there would be no pub there at all. The whole building would have gone.
"As it is, the damage is bad, but it is all repairable. That is purely down to the fire brigade and we can not thank them enough."
Investigations have now concluded the fire was accidental. The venue is currently locked up pending an asbestos report but contractors are set to go in over the next few days to offer quotes on the repair bill.
Some of the steelwork at the back of the building is affected and looks like it might need to be replaced.
"I would love to say we will be reopen in three months but I know that is not realistic," added Mr Sloan. "I would hope that we can be up and running within six months.
"I was absolutely devastated when I saw the damage. It is extensive towards the rear of the building and there is a lot of smoke damage."
Mr Sloan and his business partner Robert Skinner spent a year working on the pub giving it a major refurbishment and it had become established as "the rugby pub" in Exeter. Its popularity also saw it crowned the Express and Echo pub of the year, voted for by the public.
"At the moment we don't know what contents can be saved. We spent a year lovingly restoring it. It had antique lighting, posters, rugby memorabilia. It was all terribly damaged," he said.
"I was in bits seeing it all. I found it very difficult having spent so long creating that and winning the Echo pub of the year, and walking through all that debris, water, ash and smoke damage was terrible.
Mr Sloan said that with the rugby season kicking off in September he hoped to show the games in Timepiece until the Hole in the Wall reopens.
