Loughborough: Large fire breaks out at town's HSBC branch

Fire crews are dealing with a large blaze at a HSBC branch in Loughborough town centre.

Flames could be seen at the top of the building in Market Place on Wednesday at about 15:30 GMT.

The blaze also sent a large plume of smoke into the air above the Leicestershire town.

Jonathan Morgan, leader of Charnwood Borough Council, tweeted an inspection on Thursday would assess the damage and what services were affected.

Much of the building's roof had been engulfed by flames

A spokesman for the fire and rescue service said: "We were called to HSBC at Market Place at 15:21 - we had crews in the area, so we were there immediately at 15:21.

"There was a fire already well developed.

"At the height of the incident we had eight pumps in attendance and a turntable ladder. We are still at the scene - we will be scaling back operations through the night."

Police confirmed they were at the scene and the area around the fire had been cordoned off.

Surrounding shops had also been evacuated, including the neighbouring town hall.

Thanking the emergency services, Mr Morgan also tweeted: "We'll know more tomorrow after checks - the Council's team will be able to update on what's affected and for how long."

An eyewitness said fire crews seemed to quickly get the flames under control

Eyewitness David Haywood said: "It is doing a considerable amount of damage to the bank and all the shops around have been cordoned off by police.

"The firefighters look to have most of the flames under control but the flames came right over the top and there was a huge plume of smoke."

An event on Wednesday at the town hall has been cancelled along with the regular Thursday market - though a decision on a reduced market will be taken in the morning.

There are so far no reports of injuries.