A popular eatery specialising in Cypriot and Greek cuisine has been forced to cancel bookings after a fire ripped through the building.

The blaze started in The Plough & Harrow Greek Taverna's kitchen before spreading to its pitched roof, with four fire engines attending the scene from about 2.46pm this afternoon.

As part of their successful bid to control the flames, the fire crews cut away parts of the roof to access and extinguish the fire, and damp down hotspots.

Oad Street in Borden, where the inferno took place, was closed as the emergency service personnel worked to save the public house.

The fire was extinguished at 3.41pm and caused no casualties.

Lenny Beeching, who co-launched the eatery last year, has had to cancel some bookings as they are set to be closed for a couple of days.

He said: "The main damage is to the extraction fan and ducting, the restaurant's absolutely fine.

"We don't know exactly what happened, all we know is it went through the extractor and burnt the roof.

"No one got hurt which is the main thing. The kitchen was evacuated immediately, the fire alarm went off perfectly and everyone left the building as we're supposed to.

"The fire brigade got here within ten minutes and did their job brilliantly.

"The main thing is that everyone got out safely."