AT AROUND 1.30pm Manchester's favourite dirty burger joint caught fire.

According to reports the restaurant was nearly full with 50-60 people enjoying a relaxed Friday lunch.

Staff then tried the fire extinguisher as the alarms bells began screeching around the building as diners and staff evacuated.

The fire is thought to have started on a fryer in the kitchen, a heat blanket was used but couldn't contain the flames.

Staff then tried the fire extinguisher as the alarms bells began screeching around the building as diners and staff evacuated.

Three fire engines turned up on site at around 2pm as people began to crowd around High Street and Edge Street.

At 2.15pm, it looked like firefighters had got the fire under control and had begun to take off their gear.

Smoke then quickly began billowing from the roof of the restaurant as firefighters scrambled to get a hose and ladder up to tackle the fire that had begun raging in the roof space.

Police pushed people back to Bluu Bar and TNQ as the services began to look increasingly worried about the situation.

Marie Carter from the Almost Famous said: "There were forty five or fifty people in the restaurant. We got the customers out quickly, the staff were amazing. Nobody's hurt thank God. That's what I'm pleased about. We don't know what sort of damage we've got so we'll have to assess that when the fire's out."

Beau Myers, proprietor, said: "No one is hurt but it's breaking our hearts. The building looks a write-off."

This would mean that Almost Famous's sister restaurant Luck, Lust, Liquor and Burn is also out of action as well as tiki bar Keko Moku on the south of the site. 

Almost Famous are saying that they hope to get a pop-up operational in the city centre with a temporary licence as soon as possible.

This video is from @jameswquinn

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