POLICE believe arsonists started a string of fires at a former town centre social club.

The Combined Services Club, on Cheapside, in Spennymoor, was badly damaged by a fire at the weekend.

The building was well alight by the time fire crews were called at about 10.45pm on Saturday and firefighters had to force their way into the boarded-up building.

The back of the club was destroyed by the blaze and a suspended ceiling, the old function room and the bar were smoke damaged.

Police told the crews that youths had been inside earlier in the day so firefighters searched the building to ensure no one was in danger.

Specialist investigators discovered five seats of fire, suggesting a series of small blazes had been started deliberately around the building.

Detectives are investigating the incident and are appealing for help from the public.

Detective Constable David Eames, of Spennymoor CID, said: "The incident is being treated as arson. We have carried out house-to-house inquiries in the area and checked closed-circuit television images.

"But we are also appealing to anyone with information about what happened, or anyone who saw anything suspicious before the fire started, to get in touch."

The building, which has not been used since the club shut in February, is for sale.

Planning permission to demolish it and build a three-storey block of flats on the site has been granted by Sedgefield Borough Council.

The club was founded in the early Eighties by members of the town's Royal British Legion branch, who previously met in a variety of pubs.

They secured funds to build and open the club in 1989, with Lord Barnard performing the official opening ceremony the following year.

At its height the club had 900 members and in the Nineties, as the meeting place of other groups, it became known as the Combined Services Club.

Anyone with information about Saturday's fire is asked to call Durham police on 0845-60-60-365 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.