An Oxford pet store which suffered a fire yesterday afternoon (July 11) has temporarily stopped shoppers from entering the premises.

Firefighters ‘safely rescued’ all the animals from Pets at Home in Cowley after a fire broke out at around 3.30pm. 

They used hose reel jets to extinguish the flames.

But the damage to the store in the John Allen centre means shopppers visiting are not allowed to browse the aisles today.

READ MORE: Chinese takeaway gets new hygiene score in Oxfordshire

Instead, staff are offering a ‘personal shopper’ service - taking orders at the door and retrieving the items themselves.

A staff member said they believed the store would be fully open later this afternoon.

Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Incident commander Henri Ind said: “The staff had done an excellent job evacuating the store and rescuing as many animals as they could safely.”