An investigation has been launched after a fire destroyed a Premier store in Essex last night.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service were called to London Road in Westcliff-on-Sea at 1.16am today (Wednesday, 9th September) where 50% of the c-store was on fire.

Firefighters evacuated residents in the flats above the shop before putting the blaze out by 2am.

The cause of the fire has been recorded as deliberate. No injuries were reported.

Essex Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward along with any CCTV or dashcam footage that was recorded within the area.

Officers would like to speak to a man who was seen just before 1.10am on a mobility scooter outside the property.

Officers were called to the scene by the Fire Service just after 1am when the huge blaze took hold, and completely destroyed the store and its contents.

A spokesman for Essex Police, said: “An investigation is underway to establish the circumstances behind how the fire started.

“If you have any information, please call us on 101 quoting incident 122 of the 9 September or report it online at www.essex.police.uk.”