A pub chain has been fined £100,000 for failing to padlock a gate to a basement, leading to the death of a firefighter.

Maclay Inns appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday to admit failings under the Health and Safety Act following Alan Brown’s death at Bert's Bar in 2014.

The company admitted it had failed to ensure staff were aware of the importance of a gate at the William Street premises being secured with a padlock.

Watch manager Alan Brown, who was off duty at the time of the incident, died after falling through the gate into the basement in the early hours of April 4, 2014.

His firefighter colleagues were able to lift him out of the basement but the 46-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

The gate in the railings was used to allow access to a keg hoist leading to the basement.

The court heard on Thursday that the firm had failed to emphasise to staff, and particularly managers, the importance of ensuring the gate was locked when there was a change of shifts.

Fiscal depute Gary Aitken told Sheriff Kenneth Maciver QC that Mr Brown, a married man with two children, had been out socialising with friends.

He was making his way home at around 1.35am when he fell into the basement.

The fall was not witnessed by anyone or on CCTV but it is believed that Mr Brown may have leaned on the gate and fallen through.

Investigations revealed the need to secure the gate had been "forgotten about" and it had been routine for it not to be locked since April 2012.

Representing the company, advocate Barry Smith said the company wished to record its sincere condolences to the family for the tragic accident.

He said: "The simple measure to merely padlock the gate had been done between 2009 and 2012.

"But with the utmost regret the practice of locking the gate had been allowed to fall into disuse. That had not been deliberate or calculated."

Mr Smith said the company had no previous convictions but had gone into administration on January 23 last year.

The administrators estimated around £700,000 might be available for creditors.

Sheriff Maciver said he would not take into account the financial position of the company by imposing a nominal sum.

He said a financial penalty in a case involving injury or death must not be seen as any sort of measure by the court of the value of a life, rather it was to punish a company and deter others.

The sheriff acknowledged the health and safety breach had not been deliberate.

"Nevertheless," he said, "It is a case where there had been, over a number of years, a serious and obviously dangerous omission where the practice of padlocking the gate had been ignored by laziness and inattention. It was an accident waiting to happen".

The sheriff fined the firm £100,000, reducing the sum from £150,000 due to its early guilty plea.

Members of Mr Brown's family, who attended the hearing, made no comment after the case.

After his death, Mr Brown was described by his family as a "beloved husband and father", while colleagues said he was a popular member of the team and a "larger than life character".