Discarded batter from a fish and chip restaurant is believed to have been the cause of a fire on Friday night.

Neighbours raised the alarm after seeing a bin ablaze fire outside the Posh Plaice in Tattenham Corner at about 11.15pm on January 20.

It is thought the fire was caused by batter 'crackling' from shop's cooking oil which was thrown into the bin after closing.

Sahin Agirbas, manager at Posh Plaice, said: "The actual fire wasn't in the restaurant. We clean the oil and every night put the crackling outside in the bin and that apparently caught fire after we left the premises.

"The next door neighbour noticed and they called the fire brigade and they came and put it out.

"It’s a metal bin and I don’t think it would have taken them that long to put it out, but we weren't there."

It allegedly took firemen around an hour to put the fire out but no damage was caused to the restaurant.

While Mr Agirbas said he has never had this happen before, he did say he will take precautions from now on.

He added: "The crackling in the oil does tend to retain the heat and what we intend to do from now on is before we take it out we will pour water on it to take the heat out."

The fire brigade is investigating the cause of the fire, which was initially being treated as suspicious.