A fire which started after mice chewed through electrical wiring tore through the roof of a house in Wingham on Saturday night.

Firefighters in four engines were called to the Old Chicken House in Canterbury Road at 8.45pm after the alarm was raised.

People inside had already left the building and no one was hurt. Crew manager Adrian Hawkins from the Canterbury station said: “The fire was fairly well alight when we arrived.

“We did a good job stopping it and managed to save the building, although there is damage to the roof plus some water damage.

“We believe that mice have chewed through the outside protective layer of the wiring and left it exposed from where it started smouldering.”

The firefighters spent more than two-and-a-half hours at the scene and police closed the road.