Sussex Advertiser - Tuesday 23 April 1878

Serious Alarm Fire.

—On Thursday evening, about eight o'clock, Mr Malyan, draper and grocer, in High street, had a narrow escape from serious conflagration in his shop. The shopmen were busy serving customers and did not at the moment perceive it, but a little girl passing along the pavement on looking up saw some light goods in the show window in flames, and instantly gave the alarm, and active measures being at once resorted to, the fire was stopped, doing but trifling injury.

It appears that some goods in the window by some means were flickered against the gaslight and caught fire, and had it not been luckily discovered as it was the whole shop would shortly have been in flames, and very serious damage done to Mr Malyan's valuable stock, and with no water at hand might have extended much further.