Pictures of the fire at Greenalls' Wilderspool distillery

The town’s famous Greenalls distillery was ripped apart by the inferno exactly 16 years ago.

Breaking out on the afternoon of Saturday, October 15 2005, the blaze was estimated to have caused £40million in damage and saw the beginning of the end of the historic firm occupying the Wilderspool site.

It was later reopened as offices for the business, but the operation is now based in Risley.

A large housing estate has since been constructed in its place.

Firefighters from across the north west were called to the tackle the flames, with nearly 30 engines from as far afield as Bolton and Wallasey present at its height.

The incident also caused major disruption for residents, with Wilderspool Causeway and London Road closed for hours as the fire raged long into the night.

Some were stranded overnight, with many watching the drama from behind the emergency services cordon.

So much water flowed into the nearby Manchester Ship Canal that the Environment Agency had to treat 200,000 gallons of contaminated H2O.

Crews remained at the distillery for four days, with more than 100 in total fighting the fire – which destroyed two million litres of alcohol.

While police treated the blaze as suspicious, nobody has ever been convicted of starting the fire.

A trial against a former worker at the brewery collapsed.

For more pictures of Greenalls the fire, browse the gallery above