PART of Weymouth town centre was closed off as a fire broke out in a seafront shop.

Roads were closed, pavements taped off and residents evacuated as firefighters battled an electrical blaze which started in the basement of the Rock and Fudge Shop on the Esplanade yesterday morning.

A total of 20 firefighters in four fire engines were sent out and the pavement on the Esplanade was shut off while Great George Street at the rear of the Georgian buildings was also closed.

Shop staff were today counting the cost of the fire which hit the business at a critical time at the beginning of the summer season.

No one was injured but smoke caused significant damage and hundreds of pounds worth of ice cream was lost in several freezers as the electricity had to be cut off.

Staff began to smell smoke on the shop floor soon after arriving for work and called 999 as the alarms sounded just before about 8.15am.

The firefighters called the electricity board when they discovered the fire had started in the shop’s electricity supply in the basement.

Shop owner Wendy Nicholls was in the shop when the fire started.

She said: “We heard the alarms going off and smelt the smoke.

“The smell was overpowering and getting worse and worse.”

Residents in the four flats above the shop were evacuated.

The firefighters stopped the fire spreading from the electricity supply using carbon dioxide until it was isolated by the electricity board and they were able to extinguish it fully.

When Mrs Nicholls and her staff were allowed back in they moved as much stock as possible to the Londis shop on the corner of Westham Road – which shares the same owners.

But ice cream in two freezers that were moved around to Londis could not be saved and they were not able to access three chest freezers in the basement also left with no power.

Mrs Nicholls added: “To add to the damage to the other stock I’ve got massive freezers down there as well as losing the day’s trade.

“We had a brilliant bank holiday and the trade’s really been beginning to pick up but then this happens.”

Staff from neighbouring businesses were among those watching alongside people waiting at the bus stops. Worker Cynthia Doxey was in Christopher Robin when the fire started.

She said: “I could smell the smoke down stairs and saw the fire engines around the back. It was a big shock.”