A FISH and chip shop manager has vowed to reopen his popular takeaway after a devastating fire.

Fire crews were called to the Mediterranean Fish Bar, in Cherwell Drive, on Tuesday at about 6pm to deal with a blaze in the kitchen.

The shop was open at the time, with four members of staff and one customer inside. All managed to escape uninjured.

But the owners have said it could have been a lot worse, with the flames within a metre of the deep fat fryers.

Manager Kemal Koc said: “It was like an earthquake, everything was making such a big noise and the ground was moving.

“We just wanted to contain the fire. Some of us went outside, but I could not as I am in charge. But I could not do anything about it.”

The blaze is thought to have started in a ventilation shaft on the floor of the cooking area and took hold within minutes.

Mr Koc said staff saw glowing in the ventilation shaft and grabbed fire extinguishers and blankets.

But they were forced to escape after a few minutes as flames were leaping through the front windows.

Fire extinguishers stopped the blaze taking hold around the deep fat friers, and that probably saved the building.

Mr Koc added: “If we did not control it everything would have burned. It could have been a lot worse.”

But he added: “We have to carry on. What can you do? This is life.”

His brother, owner Mehmet Koc, said: “We do not know exactly what happened, but we have lost everything.”

It is expected to be at least a month before the shop could reopen.

The cost of the damage is not known, but the electricity and gas systems may need to be replaced. Engineers were due to visit yesterday.

The fire service said the blaze was likely to have been caused by a build-up of cooking fats in the ventilation shaft.

Station manager Jason Crapper said: “In busy commercial kitchens, especially those using large amounts of cooking fats, the amount of fat in the cooking fumes is surprisingly high.

“If these are allowed to build up either in extraction hoods or the ventilation ducts there is the risk of the fats igniting.”

A fire crew from Slade Fire Station and two from Rewley Road Fire Station attended.

The blaze was contained to the ground floor, although the first floor was also smoke-logged.