Today (Friday, March 23) marks the 10th anniversary of the night over 100 firefighters battled an Easter inferno in Tenby.

It was a ferocious fire which tore apart one of the town’s historic landmaks and changed the face of one of the most popular coastal views in Wales.

Described in 2008 as the biggest blaze in Pembrokeshire for many years, the disused Royal Gatehouse Hotel was engulfed by a raging fire right in the middle of the busy Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

The incident was reported to Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service at 11.03 pm on Saturday, March 23.

Nearby resident Christine Young was first to raise the alarm when she spotted the fire whilst walking home to The Norton.

Flames lit up the night sky as they ripped through all five floors of the listed hotel before spreading to an adjoining tanning studio and threatening the nearby Royal Playhouse Cinema. Smoke billowing from the White Lion Street hotel could be seen from miles around.

The roof of the 59-room hotel partially collapsed and crews were withdrawn from entering the building due to its unsafe structure.

The fire took several hours to get under control, with firefighters only scaling down their operations some 36 hours later.

During its Victorian heyday, the hotel would have been one of the most sought-after places to stay, but all that was left of the coastal facade was a large black gaping hole, in front of which a tower of scaffolding had melted in the heat and crashed onto the road below.

No one was injured in the devastating blaze, but around 40 people had to be evacuated from nearby properties.

At the height of the fire, around 100 firefighters attended the scene from all over Mid and West Wales. There were 14 fire and rescue vehicles at the incident, along with three aerial units, plus two water carriers.

Roads were closed as a relay was set-up to take water from the River Ritec to the scene which involved laying a large pipe along the roadway from The Green via Greenhill Road and Deer Park. Police had to draft in extra officers to deal with the large crowds of people who gathered to watch the fire drama unfold.

During the weeks that followed, heavy machinery moved in to remove rubble and demolish parts of the building to help make it safe for investigation.

A free shuttle bus operated at weekends to help pedestrians access the town centre and a shuttle service for trade deliveries was also introduced.

Around 275 businesspeople attended an open meeting to hear the local authorities’ proposed courses of action.

A month after the blaze, it was agreed to demolish the remaining structure on the grounds of immediate danger to the public, while on the third anniversary of the fire, plans to redevelop the site were given the thumbs up.

Now in its place stands McCarthy and Stone’s Paxton Court, a Retirement Living development, which opened in 2014, and a 61-room Premier Inn which opened the following year.