Householders have been warned not to leave stoves unattended after a kitchen fire badly damaged a property in the city centre on Sunday afternoon.

The blaze started in the basement of the house in Castle Row shortly after 4.15pm when the owner is said to have been heating up artist material on the cooker.

Two fire crews from Canterbury attended and quickly put out the flames but smoke had spread throughout the property.

Fire fighter Joe Symons said: "Unfortunately the stove had been left unattended and the fire had already done quite a bit of damage to the kitchen when we arrived.

"There was also quite a bit of smoke damage to the rest of the property which we had to vent with special equipment."

He added: "There are two issues here. Firstly, we advise householders never to leave anything being heated on a stove unattended and secondly the property had no working smoke alarm.

Householders can get a free fire safety inspection of their homes and free installation of smoke alarms by calling 0800 923 7000."