Blaze at Shrewsbury Chinese takeaway

A Chinese takeaway in Shrewsbury was destroyed when a blaze tore through it while the owner was away on holiday.

Fire crews called to the two-storey New Lee Sing take-away in Monkmoor Road initially feared someone might be trapped in a flat above the business.

Six firefighters donned breathing gear to search the upstairs part of the building as the drama unfolded on Saturday morning but found the flat was empty.

The blaze gutted the downstairs shop and kitchen and left the flat heavily smoke logged.

Crews remained at the scene damping down while fire investigators sifted through the debris on Saturday afternoon.

The alarm was raised shortly before 9am and two fire crews were sent to the scene from Shrewsbury, a third being called in shortly after to provide more firefighters with breathing gear.

Watch manager Chris White, of Shrewsbury fire station, said: "The fire is under investigation but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances."

Mr White added: "We found no-one in the upstairs flat and we used hose jets to put out the fire.

"We managed to contact the owner's son and he said his father was away on holiday and the takeaway had not been open for about a week because of that."

A West Mercia Police spokesman said officers attended at the request of the fire service but decided the road did not have to be closed during the incident.