Mandarin Oriental, popular London simchah venue, goes up in flames

Footage shows flames emerging from the top of the building, and plumes of thick black smoke billowing across central London.

A London Fire Brigade spokeswoman said: “The smoke from this large fire was very visible across central London this afternoon and we received a number of emergency calls.

“Firefighters are working extremely hard to bring the fire under control. Crews wearing breathing apparatus are carrying out a search inside the building.

“Firefighters are likely to be there throughout the evening and once the fire has been brought under control fire investigators will take over to establish how the blaze started.”