Shoppers were told to leave Whitefriars shopping centre in Canterbury after a fire alarm went off.

Firefighters were called to the city centre precinct just before 1pm after the sprinkler system was activated in a ground-floor shop.

Two crews from Canterbury fire station attended, but found it to be a false alarm.

It is thought to have been caused by a faulty sprinkler at Clinton Cards in Gravel Walk.

The store suffered water damage, and investigations are ongoing to establish what went wrong.

Several surrounding stores were also evacuated, but shoppers were allowed to return after half an hour.