CUSTOMERS with drinks in their hands rushed out of the bar of the Bald Face Stag Hotel, Petersham, when it caught fire yesterday. The blaze began in the rear bar of the hotel when some tins of paint caught fire. Within a few minutes, the main bar was a mass of flames. Four brigades were called to the fire. Stocks of bottled beer and wines were destroyed. Money in the tills was burnt, and most of the bar fixtures ruined.

– The Sun (Sydney, NSW) Sunday 14 June 1953