AROUND 120 guests were evacuated from a Durham City hotel when a blaze caught hold in a second-floor corridor.

Acrid smoke belched from several windows of the Royal County Hotel in Old Elvet as flames spread along the corridor. Guests, many wrapped in blankets, were evacuated to the sister hotel, The Three Tuns in New Elvet, but no-one was injured in Sunday's incident.

When firefighters arrived at the hotel just before 10am they used breathing apparatus and water jets to contain the blaze. The fire, confined to a corridor serving staff rooms, was extinguished after 90 minutes before it could spread to nearby guest bedrooms.

The hotel's general manager, Derek Harvey, said: "The guests were very understanding and thankfully no-one was hurt.

"They were evacuated to our sister hotel, The Three Tuns, but returned not long after.

"Many of the guests had already left by that time in the morning anyway. We are back to normal already, so it should not effect business at all."

Assistant divisional fire officer Michael Dunn said Old Elvet was closed for two hours while they tackled the blaze.

He said: "The corridor was badly damaged and some of the staff rooms, where we had to open the windows to let the smoke out, are blackened with smoke.

He added: "We don't know what caused the fire but it will be investigated by us and the police."