FIREFIGHTERS spent five hours battling a blaze at a carpet showroom.

Crew were called to the Accrington Carpet and Bed Centre at 6.30pm on Saturday.

Five pumps attended the scene and an aerial ladder was used to douse the flames.

The shop suffered severe damage to its ground floor including the destruction of a substantial amount of stock.

The upper floor of the shop also suffered significant damage during the blaze.

Firefighters eventually left the scene at 11.30pm.

Watch manager Phil Whittaker said that the work of the firemen had been particularly labour intensive.

He said: "Crews were having to handball rolls of carpet out into the street but because we couldn't tell if they were smouldering on the inside.

"This took a lot of effort but fortunately we did manage to stop the fire spreading as much as possible."

The cause is under investigation but is not thought to be suspicious.