A fire which has damaged a former bingo club and cinema is being treated as suspicious. More than 20 firefighters attended the scene in Warwick Road in Carlisle and managed to save the former listed building.

It is believed the fire started in the rear of the building which housed the bingo club until it closed its doors in 2006. Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service confirmed an investigation into the cause of the fire had been started, and it was being treated as suspicious.

Fiona Robson, who is a Carlisle city councillor and chairman of the Lonsdale Arts Trust, commented: "Unfortunately there had already been a lot of damage done to the inside of the building by vandals and squatters.

"We understand that things could have been much worse but for the efforts of the fire brigade."

The trust was campaigning for the building to be turned into an arts centre, with part of it restored into a working cinema. However, the owners of the property, Manchester-based Empera Estates, are keen to sell the building are asking for around £1.4m.

The building opened for the first time in September 1931, and the former stalls area became a bingo hall in the early 1970s. While it was awarded a Grade II listing in 2007, this was removed in March of this year.