Camden fire slide show | Mobile phone footage

Scotland Yard said today that it was too early to pin down the cause of a blaze that ripped through a large part of Camden Market last night and gutted a local pub generally considered to be North London's trendiest watering hole.

More than 100 firefighters battled for more than three hours to bring the blaze under control after it erupted at about 7.10pm on Chalk Farm Road. No one was reported to have been hurt in the fire.

Crowds of revellers from the pubs and bars of Camden Town were moved away as the flames took hold and leapt as high as 30 metres into the night sky.

The worst-hit areas were storage properties for the Canal Market and the Hawley Arms, which was formerly popular with Hell’s Angels but which is now a hangout for musicians and celebrities including Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss. Various flats and small businesses were also affected.

The pub's landlady, Ruth Charles-Ridler, arrived at the scene this morning to assess the damage. She said: “In a word I’m devastated. Everyone I’ve spoken to is in complete shock. This was a good community pub where everybody knew everybody else. It is a great loss to Camden Town.

“Now all we can do is wait. Clearly there is severe damage but we are just hoping that it is not structural. We definitely plan to reopen although exactly when that would be is impossible to say."

Today — when as many as 300,000 would normally throng the streets of Camden Town, drawn by its craft markets, ethic imports, pubs and cafés — large parts of the area were cordoned off as around 40 firefighters worked to dampen down the embers of the blaze.

Chief Superintendent Dominic Clout, the borough commander for Camden, said this afternoon that although the fire was under control it was not yet fully extinguished and the London Fire Brigade would be at the scene for a further two or three days.

He also pointed out that it was only the Canal Market, on the eastern side of the complex, that had been affected by the fire, rather than the Camden Lock or Stables Market areas.

"At the moment there are no reports of any injuries and it is too early to predict the cause of the fire. It is also too early to predict the seat of the fire," he said.

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, said: “Our thoughts are with those people affected by the fire in Camden Market — one of the most thriving markets in London and of enormous importance for the economy of the local area and beyond.

“Yet again the emergency services deserve our thanks for the speed and professionalism with which they have responded to tackle the blaze. Thankfully, there appears to be no one injured, despite the fact that it is a dense area and on a Saturday evening would have been crowded.”

Jenny Moran, a student from Brixton, was drinking in the nearby Oxford Arms in Camden High Street when she heard the first wave of fire engines arriving.

“We were just about to leave when we heard the fire engines and five minutes later police and more engines,” she said. “It seems to be dying down a little bit but it’s certainly spread from when I first saw it.”

Although it's a typical North London pub, with wood-panelled walls and floors, the Hawley Arms has become one of the area's most fashionable because of its popularity with musicians working a nearby recording studio and with celebrities such as Sadie Frost and the "Chalk Farm set".

Its customers including not only Winehouse — who is due to perform at tonight's Grammys via satellite link after being refused a US visa — and her now incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil — but also the rocker Pete Doherty and bands including the Zutons and Bobby Gillespie.

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