'This cannot go on!'

MP after second fire in less than a week forces town's shops to close

- Dave Knapper

SHOPPERS are being urged to keep supporting Longton - after part of the town was shut off following a huge blaze.

Emergency services had been called out to the top end of The Strand as flames ripped through the roof of a building at around 11.40pm on Tuesday night. Yesterday around 28 properties in the town centre had been hit with a power cut as National Grid had been forced to isolate supplies in the town.

The vast majority were back on by around 11.05am. Gas engineers along with structural experts have also been in the town as a cordon went up outside the fire-hit building.

That cordon was 'emptied' earlier to allow for a crane to come up with engineers inspecting the triangular decorative brick mounts by the roof - as it's understood fears over their stability had been raised.