THANET was gridlocked this morning by drivers trying to avoid Margate seafront after a huge fire in an amusement arcade.

Smoke could been seen and smelt as far away as Westwood. Crowds of people on Margate beach saw the four-storey Mr G’s collapse and fire spread to the neighbouring Funland.

Fire crews pumped seawater from the nearby swimming pool to tackle the blaze.Twenty fire engines came from as far a field as Sittingbourne and Ashford.

The building collapsed at around 8.15am and no one was thought to have been inside, although one member of the public had to be evacuated from nearby.

Damage is expected to run into hundreds of thousand of pounds.