A fire at a Harvester restaurant ripped through the building and sent a plume of smoke billowing into the sky as emergency crews fought to tackle the blaze.
Flames destroyed the kitchen of the restaurant in Littlehampton before spreading to the roof and across the building leaving a burnt shell of the property.
The restaurant chain has thanked emergency services as it assesses the extent of the damage and its next steps.
A Harvester spokesman said: “We are grateful and wish to thank the emergency services who are responding to the incident at the Windmill.
"Once we have a clear understanding of the extent of the damage we will provide updates to guests who planned to visit us, but at the moment our priority is to ensure the safety and security of the building.”
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Fire services were first called to the restaurant at 8.51am and were met with a fire in the kitchen of the restaurant.
The fire quickly spread to the roof and, soon after, also gutted much of the rest of the building.
Flames could be seen spewing from the windows of the property and the entrance to the restaurant slowly burned away with the rest of the building.
Ten fire engines were originally called to deal with the scene, however the scene then “escalated” to 12 fire engines, two aerial platforms and two water tanks.
West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service area manager Gary Bell said: "As you can see behind me we attended a call this morning at 9am, a significant fire in the kitchen space of the building of the Harvester which has unfortunately spread to the roof space.
"Our priority at the moment, of course, is to protect nearby buildings including the Windmill Centre which I am pleased to say is being well protected by all crews in attendance.
"When we arrived the building had been fully evacuated and there have been no injuries on site due to the fire today.
"We have a number of resources from here from many emergency services who are working hard to put the fire out and protect those neighbouring buildings."
The fire was officially confirmed to have been extinguished at around 2.30pm.
Fire crews will now begin to investigate the scene of the blaze which has destroyed much of the blaze.
Nearby businesses, including the Harbour Park Amusement Park, were also forced to close for part of the day but have since re-opened.
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