Staff at a pub have described their shock watching a man wield a knife and threaten people prior to a fight outside the business which left a man with a shattered eye socket and serious jaw injuries.

One member of staff who witnessed the run-up to the fight, which took place in the early hours of Saturday, December 29 in Brandon, said they were shocked by the incident.

The witness, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: 'There was a man in the pub who was wielding a knife, threatening the landlord and a young lady, and at one point he held the knife up against a young man's neck.

'The landlord asked him what he did, why he did it, and if he was holding a knife and the gentleman himself said he was and 'I'll cut you with it'.

'Another gentleman came outside and asked him what his problem was. He also threatened that man and his partner.'

The witness added they did not know what happened between the threats and the fight, but by the time they went around the back of the Five Bells pub, a man was on the floor with serious injuries.

He was later taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge with a shattered eye socket, serious jaw injuries and facial injuries, and was discharged on Wednesday, January 2.

The witness added: 'If one person had not been in here, none of this would have happened.

'It is a massive shock for the town. Everybody tars this pub for trouble and that is because everybody ends up here at the end of the night, it is the disco and the young person's pub.

'We are quite strict in here and we do get the odd scuffle because at the end of the night everybody is drunk. It would be silly to think there is not one ounce of trouble.

'But everything is blown out of proportion. It is crazy to tarnish the pub itself when it was just one person with a knife.

'It is quite a shock to Brandon itself and especially to us, we don't do knife trouble, it's Brandon.'