Locals have reacted to the news of a fire at a heritage-listed London pub was damaged in a fire on Friday night.

The blaze damaged three floors and destroyed the roof of the grade II-listed Burn Bullock in Mitcham, south-west London.

A councillor in a nearby ward said the pub has been empty for more than 10 years and is covered in graffiti.

The left wing of the three-storey property dates between the 16th and 17th century and the front between the early and mid-18th century, according to Historic England’s official list entry.

Independent councillor for Merton Park Ward, Edward Foley, said firefighters were still dousing the building when he visited on Saturday morning.

He said: “It’s just such a shame that this historic building has gone, it’s been a concern for residents.

“It’s very sad, it’s a lovely building that’s fallen into disrepair, covered in graffiti.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, to be honest, I was there this morning at seven o’clock, there were lots of dog walkers really upset.”

He added that “people had feared something would happen to the pub” for “quite a while”.

Mitcham Cricket Club is a few metres from the pub and said it had been “disgracefully neglected for years”.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, it said: “A black day for Mitcham. Named in honour of our former player and its former landlord. Disgracefully neglected for years.

“The original Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers was formed by Tom Smith in an upstairs room here. Firefighters are doing their best to save what they can”.

It thanked LFB for its “tireless work to save our beloved landmark”.

Around 80 firefighters and 12 fire engines from Norbury, Wimbledon and Tooting responded to reports that a building was on fire at around 7.30pm on Friday, LFB said.

It said it received 34 emergency calls and local residents were warned to keep their windows and doors closed due to a “significant amount of smoke”.

Ambulance crews assessed four men at the scene and two gas cylinders were removed from the building as “some cylinders can explode when exposed to heat”, it added.

Half of the ground, first, and second floors were damaged, it said.

Eyewitness Amzy, 18, who did not want to share their surname and lives near the pub, told the PA news agency: “I was driving on my way back from Costco going down Madeira Road when I saw a police cordon off the joining road to Cricket Green, and there was a huge amount of traffic at the time as all the cars were turning around.

“When I got a closer view of what was happening, of the pub burning, it looked like the roof timbers were showing on the side.

“It was always aesthetically pleasing to see an old-style pub survive this far – I’m an architecture student, so it interests me even more.

“I saw flames arising from the building which looked like it had been burning for a while, whilst firefighters had a stream of water going into it via hose.

“I felt quite distraught to see such a nice valued building go down in flames, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that was disheartened to see that.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.