IT HAS literally risen from the ashes. As the first anniversary approaches of a devastating fire that burnt a popular Forest pub to the ground, its owners are celebrating its reopening.

In the early hours of January 28 last year, flames destroyed The White Swan in Lyndhurst. The back half of the building was reduced to a few remaining bricks and beams and the rest of the pub was gutted.

Now that the premises on the A35 Bournemouth Road has been rebuilt and refurbished, manager Sue Moloney is pleased to be welcoming her regulars back in. "It's really great to be back," she said.

Sue and her son James, who live upstairs in the pub, had a lucky escape when the blaze broke out, thanks to the burglar alarm that was triggered as wires burnt.

"I get goose bumps when I talk about it," she said. "We were upstairs asleep when the burglar alarm went off. James went to look and saw smoke in the kitchen - he came and pulled me out of bed.

"It was horrendous, all we could do was stand outside and watch."

An electrical fault in the roof caused the fire. More than 90 firefighters were brought in from across Hampshire to tackle the blaze and the A35 was closed for hours.

Landlord Paul Knight and his wife Fiona, who live near the premises, are also delighted to be back in business. He said: "I got a phone call at about 3am from Sue and, as I drove towards the pub, I could see the light of the fire. It was awful, we didn't know how bad it was going to be.

"The fire brigade were brilliant, they saved our business.

"It could have been completely burnt to the ground but, because they worked so hard, they saved half the building for us."

The whole building, from the pub and restaurant to the bed and breakfast accommodation and the living quarters, has been refurbished.

The White Swan, which reopened at the end of 2006, has just been awarded AA three star recognition and has the New Forest Marque as its menu uses as much locally-grown ingredients as possible.