The owner of a town centre furniture store says a fire in his yard was a “moronic act” which could have destroyed his showroom.

Jamie Kight, director of Kent Beds and Sofas, said 80 old mattresses went up in smoke during the blaze behind the shop in Sittingbourne High Street.

Three fire engines were sent after the alarm was raised just after 8.45pm yesterday.

Crews put out the fire by 9.25pm and no injuries were reported.

Kent Fire and Rescue believe the fire was started deliberately.

Mr Kight has been 13 years in business and says his shops have been “victims of crime” before but he has “never seen anything like this”.

He opened the Sittingbourne branch three years ago and has three other branches across the county.

“I am just shocked and in disbelief that someone could do something so reckless,” he said.

“It was a deliberate act as one cigarette couldn’t have caused such a blaze.

“Put politely, it is a moronic and serious act that could have easily resulted in the loss of our showroom.

“Thankfully our property was saved and nobody was injured.

“We are very thankful to the fire service for attending so quickly and working so hard to extinguish the fire and make sure it didn't spread to our building.

“The mattresses that we are recycling are put out in what we thought was a locked and secure place in our yard.

“We have been doing this since we moved here and nothing like this has happened before.

“We do see a lot of anti-social behaviour in Sittingbourne and it has got worse since we moved in.

“It is staggering the decline of the High Street, with drunk people at all times of the day, people sleeping in doorways and anti-social kids.

“I am not surprised businesses are choosing to leave here.”

The showroom has remained open as usual.

One Kemsley resident told KentOnline how they could not leave the Albany Road car park, which is behind the bed store, due to the fire.

Ethan Emmett had left The Golden Hope Wetherspoons around 8.30pm and saw the flames engulfing the yard.

The 20-year-old said: “The fire was the size of a two-bedroom house and had started to catch onto the building.

“We saw at least eight firefighters at the scene and although there wasn’t much of a smell it was really warm.”

One High Street trader, who did not want to be named, said he had seen children lying on the mattress when the weather is good.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen for miles billowing across the town during the blaze.

The Gazehill resident said at the time: “You can see the cloud of smoke for miles – it’s massive.

“It looks like it is coming from the town centre.

“I can hear emergency vehicle sirens.”

The official cause of the fire is not yet known.

Police were called but Kent Fire and Rescue has not said the cause of the blaze was suspicious.