A fire behind the famous Chicken Shop on Tooting High Street woke a neighbour who alerted the fire service.

Two pumps from Tooting fire station were sent to an alleyway behind the chicken restaurant at 3.10am, this morning.

The fire, which was still quite small, was caused by excess storage of flammable material in the rear alleyway leading to a couple of sheds and some fencing catching fire.

Firefighters were there for about an hour and a half.

A spokesman from Tooting fire station said: "Luckily one of the neighbours woke up.

"There was definitely a lot of flammable material."

Another firefighter said: "When large amounts of combustibles are kept in an area like that there have been cases where a fire has taken control quite rapidly.

“It could’ve been quite severe especially at that time of night when there’s not a lot of people about, it’s able to escalate a lot quicker.”