An 18th birthday party nearly went up in smoke in Rochester tonight when fire engines were called to the Singapora Lounge in the High Street.

Megan Barron, from Rock Avenue, Gillingham, was celebrating her coming of age with 30 of her closest friends and family when she smelt smoke and they were evacuated from the building.

"I smelt burning and I think there was a fire upstairs. When they brought us out I was upset, I started crying, but what can you do. We'll find somewhere else to carry on."

Megan, who has just finished studying health and social care at MidKent College, was then allowed back with her friends and family to the lounge. She said: "We're going to go back in and carry on the party."

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "Firefighters were called to a fire in the roof of a three-storey terraced building used as a restaurant in High Street, Rochester.

"Three fire engines attended the scene and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus quickly brought the fire under control using hose reels. Crews cut away areas of the roof to expose and damp down remaining hotspots. There were no reported injuries and the cause of the fire is not yet known."