WORKERS had to flee a chip shop after a ventilation pipe from the frying ranges caught fire.

Six staff from Barkerend Fisheries in Otley Road were out safe waiting for firefighters after the blaze broke out shortly before 11pm last night.

Four appliances from Bradford, Odsal and Fairweather Green attended and got the fire under control and the scene made safe at around midnight, managing to save 90 per cent of the three-storey building.

Bradford watch commander Andy Flynn said crews had to pull plaster away and cut out timbers close to the pipe on each of the property's floors to stop the fire.

"It was a time consuming task because we had to deal with areas around the pipe as it passed up through all the three floors into the roof. The shop part of the building is okay. It will take a bit of time to get everything up and running again and repairs done but it could have been a lot worse.

"We believe it was a cooking accident from the fryers that started it," he said.