A DERELICT social club was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.

The fire service was called to the old Atherton Sports and Social Club, in Formby Avenue, at about 2.40am in the early hours of this morning.

Five pumps and two specialist appliances were needed to tackle the fire, which took nearly three hours to bring under control.

Relief crews are still damping down at the scene and are expected to remain there for much of the day.

Lewis Cross, watch manager, said the fire was ‘deliberate ignition by persons unknown’ and that about 80 per cent of the brick building had been destroyed in the blaze.

He added that the main problem firefighters faced was getting close enough to the fire to tackle it.

He said: “There was just a bit of an access issue because it was boarded up and quite close to houses on the street. We had to go through people’s gardens and things like that.”