STAFF and customers had to be evacuated from a Bewdley fish and chip shop which burst into flames when an extractor fan overheated.

The award-winning Catchems End Fish Bar in Kidderminster Road suffered severe damage when fire broke out at about 6.20pm on Saturday.

Up to six members of staff, several customers and residents of the flats above the shop all had to leave the smoke-shrouded building.

Kidderminster firefighters joined crews from Stourport, Bewdley and Droitwich at the scene for three-and-a-half hours.

Firefighter Andrew Birch said vats of boiling oil were set alight after the fire travelled up the extractor duct into the shop from the cellar.

"The duct's got a fan in the bottom to extract the smoke but the fan overheated, causing a fire in the extractor ducting which then travelled back up into the chip shop - where the vats of fat caught fire," he said.

Mr Birch added the blaze - which destroyed the frying range and chillers and blew out the front windows - was like a giant chip pan fire which had to be fought with foam not water.

No-one from the chip shop, which was named the best in the Midlands and East Anglia in 2001, was available for comment.