Doormen from a Hornchurch pub came to the rescue of a man who had been stabbed on his way home from a night out.

The 25-year-old was taken to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning, after he had been found with a stab wound following an incident in High Street.

Staff and the doormen of the Rising Sun, and Luna - that only opened recently - ran to try and break up a fight that was happening up the road at around 1.15am on Sunday, and when they brought one of the injured men back to the pub they discovered he had been stabbed.

Director of both Luna and The Rising Sun, Joe Sullivan, 43 said that he was cashing up when one of his doormen received a call on his radio to a “commotion” up the road.

Joe said the off-duty bouncer then ran to help the two other doormen who had gone to the incident.

Two men, one being the 25-year-old who was stabbed, then came back to the pub to receive treatment.

Joe said that the man who was stabbed said over and over that he was hurt.

The man was wearing a red t-shirt, so staff could not tell the full extent of his injuries.

His friend pointed out that he had been stabbed, and the pub then rang an ambulance.

The director said his doormen then carried out first aid on the injured man, and stayed with him, reassuring him until the ambulance arrived.

Joe said that it was “surreal” and in more than 10 years of working in pubs he’d never seen an incident like this before.

He said: “I was just worried about the kid, I barely got any sleep all weekend.

“It was all over in about 10 minutes, all the emergency services were there so quick.

“I am just grateful for everyone that helped and was there.

“I can’t thank my door staff enough, they were brilliant and could have saved the kid’s life.

“They didn’t have to do what they did, some of them were finished, but they went to help and I am proud of them all for what they did.”

Police and forensics teams then cordoned off the pub where the man had gone to receive treatment, but the crime scene was down by lunchtime yesterday - according to Joe.