A blaze broke out on London’s Fleet Street in a building next to the offices of investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Firefighters and multiple vehicles from the London Fire Brigade (LFB) battled the fire, which broke out on Wednesday afternoon on the London street famous for housing the offices of major newspapers. Onlookers described how smoke engulfed the building after 2.30 PM GMT, according to RT.
Multiple fire crews arrive to battle blaze above a pub
According to reports approximately 30 firefighters and six fire engines attended the scene. A Goldman Sachs employee told Huffington Post UK that the workers were told to evacuate the office as a result of the fire.
A “significant amount of smoke appeared to be coming from [the] building above Pret a Manger. Surrounding buildings were partially evacuated, including Goldman Sachs,” he said.
Journalist Tim Dickens of the Royal Television Society was at the scene of the fire, and took to Twitter to describe what was happening. Alongside multiple fire vehicles he reported that there was also a specialist ambulance crew on site. Fleet Street was closed in both directions between Ludgate Circus and Fetter Lane while crews attempted to put out the fire.
Goldman Sachs offices not directly affected, some staff evacuated
Police advised drivers to avoid the area while roads remained closed. One eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Evening Standard: “I saw clouds of acrid smoke. I walked up to see what was happening and saw people crowded outside the Goldman Sachs building. But it was coming from a building further along. I hope no one is hurt.”
According to the LFB the fire broke out in a first floor apartment located above a pub. From reports it sounds as though the blaze broke out above Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, an historic pub that is a favorite drinking den of the journalists that work on Fleet Street. The Grade-IIl listed pub was also a regular haunt of literary greats including Dr Samuel Johnson, Alfred Tennyson and Arthur Conan Doyle.
There were no reported injuries. An LFB spokesperson said: “The fire was under control by 3.43pm. The cause of the fire is under investigation.”
