The blaze is believed to have started in Nando’s Photo: Mary Brown

An investigation is still underway into the cause of a fire at Nando’s on Garratt Lane, Southside Shopping Centre yesterday afternoon.

Thirty-five fire fighters and six fire engines were called from different stations in Wandsworth had managed to tackle the fire from the third floor of the building. More than 2,500 people were evacuated by 2pm, assisted by the fire brigade and shopping centre staff

Kika Hall panicked, after noticing smoke billowing out of the restaurant whilst out shopping with mother and daughter

She said: “We had just decided to have lunch. You could see a lot of smoke coming out of there. They just had cleared the restaurant already and were closing the doors to try and contain the fire.”

Another eyewitness, Sarah Chapham, 40, from Tooting was busy Christmas shopping in the centre when she heard the fire alarm

She said: “The word is it could have been the Nando’s. I could see the smoke coming out of the vent.”

Fifty per cent of the ventilation system and roof of the restaurant was severely damaged by the fire, leading to a further investigation whether Nando’s is to blame for the rising flames. The outbreak had caused all shops to close down, forcing people to evacuate immediately, including mothers with push-chairs rushed out of the building.

Rosanna Silva, 20, shop assistant at Pandora:  “It was like chaos, we had to evacuate quickly in an orderly fashion!”

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade had confirmed that the stations were alarmed about the fire at 13.52pm, which had affected the restaurants ventilation system, which was eventually brought under control by 15.30.pm

A customer eating in Nando’s restaurant, Annabel had said: “The evacuation process was safely carried out, thankfully no one was hurt!”

The cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage.