Four people including a newborn baby have been taken to hospital after fleeing a flat fire in Croydon town centre.

Three fire crews were sent to the blaze by Surrey Street market, which broke out just before 10.30am.

Witnesses said a woman cradling a baby in her arms had fled the three-storey building, where smoke could be seen billowing from an open upstairs window.

Market trader Craig Vince said: "I saw her when she came out. She said she had tried to plug in the fridge with a baby in her arm, and it just started sparking.

"She only just moved in last week as well."

Three adults and the child were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

Another woman with a young child also fled a neighbouring flat, according to witnesses.

A market trader said he overheard a firefighter describe the blaze - above the Viet2Go Vietnamese restaurant - as an "electrical fire".

Paramedics have also attended and buggy could be seen leaning against the back of an ambulance. A medic confirmed it belonged the people who escaped the fire.

A woman and newborn baby were treated in the ambulance and are believed to have been taken to hospital.

No one is thought to have been seriously injured by the fire.

London Fire Brigade said it was called at 10.26am to reports of a fire near Surrey Street market. 

It sent two engines from Croydon station and one from Norbury.

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Two employees at a nearby gym told how they described helped a woman and a child escape from the flat next door to the one alight.

Ollie Thompson, 29, and Tony Richardson, 25, noticed smoke coming out of the window of a flat opposite Virgin Active.

Mr Thompson said: "We ran up there and saw a woman and her kid scrambling around. We got the kid and said, 'Come on, you've got to go.'"

They then returned with fire extinguishers but realised the fire was an the adjacent flat.

London Fire Brigade said the five-roomed flat suffered 20 per cent damage to its first and second floor in the fire.

Firefighters had the flames under control by noon.

Market stalls continued to trade either side of a cordon put in place by fire crews.