Although no one was injured in the incident, the premises suffered extensive smoke damage.

DC Mitch Balsillie, of Tayside Police, said the fire could have had much more serious consequences. “There was quite a lot of smoke damage to the premises,” he said. “We believe it was started deliberately.”

“There are flats above the pub so there was a potential for injury for nearby householders and the firefighters.”

Crews from Macalpine Road station attended, and the flames were put out before damaged areas of the basement were cut away.

Tayside Fire and Rescue station manager Ron Massie said two sets of rubbish at the back of the building were well alight when crews arrived.

“There was rubbish on fire at the rear of the property,” he said. “Police are treating it as suspicious because there were more than two seats of the fire. Although there was little damage to the external property, there was substantial smoke damage.

“We believe the fire was started a few hours before we were called out at 9am. It is hard to say exactly, but it was not started at 9.”

As the pub was shut at the time of the fire breaking out, police had to summon a keyholder to the scene.

DC Balsillie said officers are now trawling through CCTV footage and making door-to-door inquiries as part of their ongoing investigations.

“We are looking at footage in the nearby area to see whether there was anyone near the premises who should not have been there in the hours leading up to the fire,” he said.

“We could be looking at quite a long period of time, maybe several hours before the fire actually started. We will also be carrying out a forensic site investigation.”

DC Balsillie appealed for anyone who was in the area in the hours leading up to the blaze, who saw anything suspicious or who has information relating to the fire to contact police on 0300 111 2222.