Police shut busy central London street after fire breaks out above pub

Police have shut a busy central London street after a fire broke out above a pub.

Drinkers were were forced to evacuate The Court, on Tottenham Court Road, after smoke began spilling into the bar on Sunday afternoon.

At least four engines were sent to the scene as crews battled the blaze, thought to have begun in a flat in the four-storey building on the corner of Maple Street.

Firefighters with breathing apparatus used an aerial ladder to tackle the flames. Smoke could be seen rising above the building.

Customers carried their glasses across the road and continued drinking as the drama unfolded.

One pub-goer told The Independent: "The fire didn't actually start in the pub, it was in a flat above the Subway next door

"The smoke started getting into the pub so we were told we had to get out.

"It wasn't scary, and it looks like its more or less over now. We're going to another pub down the road."

Police shut Tottenham Court Road between Howland Street and Grafton Way.

A manager of the Subway branch beneath the flat where fire is believed to have started told The Independent he would be providing "no comment whatsoever".