Hartside Cafe destroyed by fire

A fire has destroyed the popular Hartside Cafe near Alston.

It sits at one of Cumbria's highest points on the A686, on the Hartside Pass summit.

The building suffered severe damage and the roof has completely collapsed.

Firefighters from Alston, Brampton and Penrith were called at 2.20pm yesterday and tackled the blaze for several hours.

The fire service confirmed that nobody was hurt in the fire.

The fire crew from Penrith had to follow a snowplough along the road to reach the scene after last week's heavy snowfall.

The cafe is a hotspot for cyclists and motorcyclists, who've tackled the gruelling climb up Hartside Pass.

It was a popular pitstop on the Tour of Britain route in 2015.