AN INVESTIGATION was carried out this week to discover the cause of a fire which gutted the interior of a Barnard Castle jeweller's shop.

The blaze quickly took hold after breaking out at about 4.30 last Friday afternoon.

Flames were seen shooting from the front of the Ice Design shop in Galgate as the window cracked and fell on to the pavement.

This was followed by several small explosions. Customers from the neighbouring Kartoon Bar cafe and Tarn's butchers were evacuated as was a first-floor flat and store room above the three premises, all suffering smoke damage.

Mr Andrew Dabell, who had been making and selling jewellery at the shop for 2 years, told the D&S Times that he had left the building momentarily to pop across the road to the post office. On opening the door on his return, he was driven back by the fire.

Mr Dabell, who uses a gas torch in his work, assumed it had ignited, but said he would have to wait for the results of an investigation into the blaze.

Barnard Castle station officer Mr Dave Hodgson said fire engines from Barnard Castle and Middleton in Teesdale attended the fire, with four firefighters using breathing apparatus to enter the shop.

They later used a thermal imaging camera to detect any heat spots that might later ignite.

Above, flames erupt from the shopfront at the height of the blaze - Sheila Dixon/D&S