'We were trapped in the pub during Darwen bomb scare'

Customers have described being trapped inside a pub for hours during a bomb scare.

Emergency services were called to Railway Road in Darwen yesterday (Saturday) afternoon at around 2pm after an explosive, believed to be a relic from the Second World War, was handed in at the heritage centre.

As police and firefighters put a cordon in place customers inside The Bridgewater, which is a few doors down from the heritage centre, were ordered to remain inside.

READ MORE:

• Darwen incident: 'Potentially explosive item found in town centre'

• Army bomb disposal experts remove grenade from Darwen town centre

Wendy Fay had been in the pub for around an hour when a police officer came inside and told the shocked customers that they weren't allowed to leave.

"The police came inside and instructed the front door be locked and nobody was allowed to leave," she said. "We had been in for roughly an hour before it all happened, I was on my way to buy my partner's wedding ring, I hope it's not an omen!"

Unfortunately for Wendy and her fellow pub-goers they weren't offered any complimentary refreshments. "I had to get my dinner and everything; eating spicy chicken wings and watching the fire brigade and police wasn't what I planned," she added.

Dan, another customer who was in The Bridgewater at the time, said he thought his friends were joking when he returned from the toilet to be told they had to remain inside.

"I thought they were having me on," he said. "When one of them said there's a bomb scare my first thought was 'yeah yeah, pull the other one'.

"Then when I saw them locking the door from the inside it sank in. The cops and firemen were all just milling around outside the windows; I don't really know why they couldn't just let us leave and walk towards the main road [in the opposite direction to the heritage centre].

"It was kind of exciting at first but we soon got a bit fed up. We must have been in there for about four hours in total. I bet the pub bosses were rubbing their hands!"

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed last night that the item, which is believed to have been a grenade, was removed by bomb disposal experts from the British Army.

The 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment team from the Royal Logistics Corps then took the item to a safe location before destroying it in a controlled environment.

The spokesperson said: "We can confirm an Army Bomb Disposal team was called out to Darwen at the request of Lancashire Police. The item was safely moved to a safe distance and destroyed by demolition."