Kent Police are investigating the cause of a fire which caused severe damage to an outbuilding in Queen Street, Gravesend in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The building was used to store a large quantity of stacked timber, which was completely destroyed by the blaze.

A Kent Fire and Rescue spokesman said: “Crews arrived at 4 Queen Street at 2.18am and left at 3.11am. The building and its contents were destroyed and a window of an adjacent building was cracked due to radiated heat from the fire.”

Two fire engines attended the scene and used a main jet to douse the flames.

The building in question was just behind the Bayldon Butchers shop, which closed at the weekend after 68 years in business.