Firefighters have been praised for their swift response after fire broke out inside a Sheffield nightclub on Wednesday evening.

Staff from John Lewis department store dialled 999 after spotting smoke and flames coming from the roof of the Embrace club on Burgess Street in the city centre at around 6pm.

Fire crews from Central, Mansfield Road and Darnall were quickly on the scene, managing to confine the blaze to a fuse room. An extensive search of the club revealed no-one was inside.

Station Manager Trevor Bernard said: “The firefighters performed an outstanding job locating the fire so quickly and stopping it spreading to other parts of this nightclub.

“I have no doubt that if this fire had really taken hold we would have been dealing with a major incident in Sheffield city centre.

“I would also like to commend the actions of the staff at John Lewis who raised the alarm, ensuring we caught the blaze in its early stages.”

Work had been carried out inside the fuse room earlier on Wednesday, and it is believed the source of the fire was wires from an air conditioning unit.