FIREFIGHTERS were tonight trying to establish the cause of a fire that ripped through an antiques centre.

Seven fire crews from Banbury, Chipping Norton, Hook Norton and Charlbury raced to Station Mill Antiques Centre, in Station Road, Chipping Norton, at 5.30pm yesterday, just 30 minutes after it closed. Nobody was hurt.

The blaze broke out on the first floor of the 11,000 sq ft centre, which houses more than 80 dealers, and firefighters spent two hours tackling the fire.

The roof of the property was badly damaged and firefighters stayed at the scene overnight.

Today, the incident support unit was still on site, trying to establish the cause of the fire. It is not yet known how much damage was caused.

The owner and manager of the centre declined to comment.

Chipping Norton deputy mayor Christopher Butterworth said: “I had a look at it this morning and about one third of the building has been destroyed.”