BUSINESSES and flats were evacuated in Northdown Road, Cliftonville, yesterday afternoon after fire broke out in the top floor in a row of terraced Victorian buildings (Peter Barnett writes).

More than 40 firefighters from across east Kent tackled smoke and flames that were being fanned by high winds.

Police cordonned off the road and moved shoppers and onlookers out of the danger area.

A police spokesman said: “The fire is thought to have started in a top floor flat at around 2pm. Nobody was in the flat at the time.”

It is the third fire in a week in the area. Last Wednesday a flat in Edgar Road caught alight and on Tuesday afternoon there was a small fire at the Fort Lodge Hotel at Fort Crescent.