Ian Wikberg and India Morrell found themselves caught up in the chaos after leaving a concert at Rock City on Monday.
“We came out at about 22:30, when the doors closed, and we walked down the road and it was all quite active with fire, ambulance and police, and building was well alight,” Wikberg said.
The 43-year-old said there were “pockets of people” standing around in slippers and dressing gowns after being evacuated from the building.
“[There was] a lot of people, a lot of cordons, all the roads blocked, the air was full of smoke and red,” he said.
Morrell added: “It was scary really – I’ve never seen anything like it before.
“The first thing you think is you hope everyone’s out and you hope everyone’s OK.”
When the pair first saw the fire, the flames were “probably five metres above the building”.
“You could see the redness and there was smoke everywhere,” Morrell said.
