People living in flats above a convenience store in North Harrow have described their “scary” evacuation late last night when the shop caught fire.

More than 20 firefighters took an hour to put out the blaze at Premier 7’til Late in Pinner Road which destroyed most of the shop at just after 11.40pm last night, while those living in flats above the shop were rushed to safety.

Rafeeq Saini, who lives in one of the flats above the terraced row of shops with his girlfriend, said he got out of the flat as soon as smoke started to rise outside the window from the store below.

He said: “It was very scary. It seemed to happen very quickly and before we knew it the fire brigade were here.

“Thank God that nobody was in there because it was a very strong fire and it could have killed someone.”

Investigators from London Fire Brigade believe the blaze started at a chilled food display cabinet but are working at the shop this afternoon to identify the cause.