AN overnight blaze at a Radcliffe coffee shop may have been started deliberately, according to firefighters.

Police are now investigating after a fire at Cafe Fresh in Church Street West, Radcliffe, at about 10pm last night.

Firefighters from Whitefield, Bury and Farnworth attended and took about two hours to extinguish the blaze.

The shop was left severely damaged while the flat above it, which was unoccupied, suffered smoke damage.

It is not thought that anybody was hurt during the incident.

A fire service spokesman said: "We had some difficulty putting it out at first because of access and crews were forced to use breathing apparatus.

"Our investigations team and the police are looking into this now.

"Certainly it is not quite adding up at the moment."