A suspicious fire damaged a former pub in Gillingham overnight.

The blaze in The Black Lion in Mill Road started in the ground floor of the four-storey building just before 1am on Saturday morning.

Three fire engines attended and fifteen firefighters tackled the fire.

The cause is being investigated by Kent Fire and Rescue Service and Kent Police but is being treated as suspicious.

No-one was injured and the fire was put out by 2am.

The Black Lion closed as a pub in March and was bought by a property development company called Bailey Partners, which is run by three brothers.

One of them, John Bailey said: "It's come as a bit of a shock that's for sure. I got a call from my brother at around 8.30am this morning.

"We bought it in March and we were undecided in terms of what we were going to with it. It's got planning opportunities with it."