Firefighters remain at the scene of a blaze at one of Europe's largest coffee factories today.

Ten crews were called to the ground floor of warehouse buildings owned by UCC, formerly known as United Coffee, on the Riverside Industrial Estate in Dartford just before 6am yesterday after an employee raised the alarm.

The 40 sq m factory and around 50 local residents were evacuated, although they have now been allowed to return home.

Images and videos posted on social media yesterday showed a large number of firefighters tackling the blaze, as flames continued to rip through buildings on the site for several hours.

Crews are expected to remain at the warehouse throughout the day, due to the large amount of coffee inside the building which needs to be turned over and dampened down to be fully extinguished.

Central Road remains closed in both directions due to the blaze.

It is shut from Riverside Way to Oakes Crescent.

People living and working nearby are reminded to keep windows and doors closed while smoke is still in the air.