The area leads the rest of Warwickshire in house fires, new figures show, with 86 in the 12 months to April.

More than twice as many residents watched their possessions go up in smoke than in Rugby - and almost three times as many as in the north of the county.

Meanwhile, the Stratford area had 53 house fires and Nuneaton and Bedworth 72.

Total numbers of incidents across Warwickshire have been falling for several years, thanks to education and preventative measures.

But the fire and rescue service has identified a particular problem with Leamington and Warwick.

It thinks the causes include the number of shared houses and buildings, a constantly-shifting student population and large proportion of elderly people.

Urging caution, fire safety manager Maria Smedley explained: "We cannot entirely explain it, but those over the age of 65 are statistically most likely to become victims and the area has a large amount of elderly people.

"There are also a lot of students, who come home from a night out on the lash, start making their sausage sandwich...and away we go.

"The issue in both examples is leaving things unattended, about getting distracted.

"We have seen a steady decline in the number of house fires, even in Warwick district. But for some reason the area has more of a problem than any other in the county, weighted for population."

A county council spokeswoman said the fire safety message needed constant reinforcement due to the amount of rented accommodation in the towns and the high turnover of tenants.