A fire has broken out in the roof of Whispers Wine Bar in Halstead.

Emergency services flooded the scene from around 11.15am, with six fire engines attending from Halstead, Braintree, Coggeshall, Colchester and Sudbury.

Halstead High Street has now been closed for safety reasons. 

The fire started on the first floor of a wine bar and due to the age and wooden structure of the building the fire began to spread through the roof.

Firefighters are tackling the fire from the outside of the building and from the flat roof at the back of the building by removing roof tiles to access hot spots.

Thermal imaging cameras are being used to check adjoining properties for hot spots and attempt to stop further spreading.

Update 12.50pm

The road will be closed for at least an hour

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Photo by Mark Thompson

Update 1.10pm

Mark Thompson, who works at the opticians next door, said: "We didn't know about it until the police knocked ont he door and told us to get out.

"We came out on the street and could see the fire rising above the building."

Update 1.30pm

This photo showing the back of Whispers has just been sent to us, taken at 11.40am. 

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Update 1.40pm

Incident Commander Craig McLellan said: "The initial crews have worked brilliantly to get the fire under control quickly. Their work helped to stop the fire spreading to other businesses and properties.

"The incident has been made more complicated because of the age and make-up of the building and roof area but all crews surrounded very quickly, allowing us to tackle it from every angle."

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Picture: Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Update 2pm:

A spokesman for the fire service said: "Firefighters are continuing to tackle hotspots but thanks to their quick work there is no fire damage to adjoining properties, and one property has suffered smoke damage.

"The wine bar has suffered water damage to the ground floor, the first floor is severely fire damaged and the roof has been destroyed.

"The fire appears to have started in the kitchen and at this stage it is being treated as accidental.

"Due to the age of the building we expect it will be several hours until the fire is fully extinguished and cool.

"The high street will remain closed until the scene is safe."

Update 2.10pm:

Here are pictures from the scene taken by our photographer Steve Brading

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Update 3.15pm:

The fire is out and some firefighters have been released from the incident.

Two fire engines will stay at the incident until the scene is completely cooled and safe.

Update Sunday 10.25am:

Firefighters were called to another fire in the roof of a three storey building in Halstead High Street.

The fire was next door to the wine bar which suffered the serious fire damage on Friday.

Crews were called out shortly before 8pm last night.

Station Manager Lee Palfreyman, said: "It is thought that the fire reignited due to hot spots which were covered up by a large amount of debris and were not detectable with thermal imaging equipment.

"It is rare for this to happen, but the complexity of the structure of the building, voids and wall cavities meant that the hot spots were undetectable."

Firefighters got the fire under control quickly and had fully extinguished it by 10pm.