A TOWN centre shopping centre has reopened following an explosion in one of its shops today.

Firefighters were called to Queen Street Shopping Centre, in Darlington, at 8.14am after a fire broke out following an explosion in the centre’s Superdrug store.

The alarm was raised by a member of staff at the store. There were no members of the public in the centre and all staff had evacuated the complex by the time the fire brigade arrived.

Four appliances, two from Darlington and two from Newton Aycliffe, attended the incident, using breathing apparatus and hose reels to fight the fire.

The surrounding area was evacuated and police attended to keep members of the public away from the shopping centre while firefighters tackled the blaze.

After extinguishing the fire, crews used positive pressure ventilator fans to clear the store and the shopping centre of smoke.

The centre remained closed until firefighters gave the all-clear at about 12.30pm yesterday.

The store, which is said to have extensive smoke and heat damage, is not expected to reopen for some time.

Station manager Tony John said: “Our priority was to put out the fire, make the shopping centre safe and then get the centre reopened as soon as possible as the shops are obviously losing thousands of pounds of business the longer they stay closed.”

He said an investigation into the cause of the fire had begun today but was yet to conclude.

“We are still investigating the cause of the fire. The most likely cause is an electrical fault,” he added.