WITNESSES of the fire that gripped the Randolph Hotel for hours yesterday described the moment they watched one of Oxford’s historic landmarks go up in flames.

People were evacuated from adjoining buildings by police as firefighters flooded in to battle the blaze.

James Morris, owner of Jimbob’s Baguettes, next door to the MacDonald chain hotel in Beaumont Street, said he was first alerted shortly before 5pm by a customer.

He said: “Someone walked into our shop and said ‘your building is on fire’.

“I went and looked outside we realised it was coming from the back of the hotel.

I called the fire brigade and warned the people in the floors above us.

“It looked like a particularly big fire.”

Across the road at the Ashmolean Museum, a member of staff described the scene: “There was a huge fire and black smoke pouring out of the hotel.

“People were just standing and looking at it.”

As firefighters expanded the cordon around the scene up Beamont Street, St Giles and Magdalen Street, museum staff were instructed to stay inside.

News of the fire swept through the city and hundreds of pictures were posted on social network Twitter, showing plumes of smoke billowing into the afternoon sky.

Twitter user Emily Brown posted: “That’s an awful lot of black smoke.”

Ladey Grey said: “Rather nasty looking fire. Hope everyone is OK.”

People reported the smell of smoke for miles around.

Less than 50 metres down the road at the Oxford Playhouse, those evacuated from the Randolph Hotel were moved to the Beaumont Street theatre’s foyer.

Technical manager Tim Boyd described scenes in the early evening when the fire first broke out: “We were sat in the office and thought that a car smelt bad.

“When we got out, we saw billows of smoke. We tried to go on the roof to see it but we couldn’t see anything.”

From the roof of The Varsity Club, people watched from a safe distance as a police helicopter was spotted overhead.

Club manager Jake Oppon said: “There were big clouds of very dark, billowing smoke, that changed to a lighter smoke.”

Mark and Kimberley Rhode, from Arizona, were staying at the hotel during their visit to Oxford.

Mr Rhode said: “Our passports are in there and we go home on Sunday.

“We were out sightseeing when we heard a bang and were wondering what it was all about. We arrived and found out it was the Randolph.

“I don’t really know what to feel.”

Last night Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service incident commander Simon Furlong said hotel guests with scheduled international flights would receive help.