London Fire Brigade has been praised for doing a 'thorough job' following a restaurant fire that brought huge disruption to the centre of Richmond on Friday.

The police sealed off the roads through the town centre to allow fire fighters to tackle the blaze, quickly bringing it under control before it could spread to surrounding buildings.

The closure of the roads caused jams through the centre of the town, through to Richmond Bridge and beyond, and effectively halted bus services, leaving many people with a long walk home.

The fire occurred in an extraction system of a restaurant, causing damage from the first floor to the roof.

It appears to have occurred above the Itsu Japanese restaurant in Lower George Street, near Whole Foods, in central Richmond at around 3.30pm on Friday afternoon. However, the precise location and cause has not been officially confirmed.

Fire fighters needed to use one of the brigade's new 32 metre appliances known as turntable ladders to survey the scene and assess the damage above the restaurant.

Itsu has been closed since the incident. A notice in the window reads: "So sorry, we are temporarily closed. Due to unforeseen circumstances this store is temporarily closed for the safety of our team and customers."

A spokesman for the chain said: "We can confirm there has been significant fire damage to our itsu Richmond store.

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"All our team members and customers were evacuated safely and we are pleased to say are safe and well. The source of the fire is currently under investigation and the shop will be closed until further notice. We are grateful to the London Fire Brigade for their quick response."

A second restaurant, the Beirut Street Kitchen, was caught up in the emergency and forced to close as the firefighters tackled the blaze, but it hopes to re-open later this week.

A spokesman for Beirut Street Kitchen said: "There was a fire somewhere on the rooftops above us. The Fire Brigade had to pull apart the timber and tiles to make sure there wasn't any other flames and everything was fine.

"We had to put our electrics off. The London Fire Brigade did a very thorough job making sure everything was safe, and even came back later that evening to check that everything was okay."

The Fire Brigade said: "Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters were called to a restaurant fire on Lower George Street in Richmond.

"The whole of the extraction system from the first floor to the roof of the building was damaged by fire. Part of the roof was also damaged by the blaze.

"The Brigade was called at 15.24 and the fire was under control by 18.25. Fire crews from Kingston, Park Royal, Hammersmith and Acton fire stations were at the scene."