Device believed to have been dropped by Germans in second world war discovered at construction site near London market

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

One of Britain’s most popular markets was evacuated after an unexploded second world war bomb was discovered.

Spitalfields in east London was cleared after the device was found at a nearby construction site at about 9.45am on Thursday.

Several businesses were closed as a precautionary measure and a police cordon was in place at the junction of Commercial Street and Brushfield Street while specialist officers attempted to remove the bomb, thought to have been dropped in a German raid.

Around midday, traders were told it was safe for them to return to their stalls. Kenny, a bag designer who has worked at the market for nine and a half years, said an orange digger at the construction site across the road had come into contact with the ordnance when businesses were still setting up shop.

“We were all evacuated at 10 o’clock this morning and let back in at 12,” he said. “We had to go to the back of the other side of the building to the fire and safety area.

“Two thousand five hundred people in this building – all the shops and restaurateurs – all had to leave.”



An office worker, Georgia, who works at a nearby bank on Liverpool Street, said her colleagues had been eating at a Giraffe restaurant when they were told they had to leave because an unexploded bomb had been found.

A jewellery designer, Gavin, said he had heard from other traders that two unexploded devices had been found, but this was not officially confirmed.

This year, residents in Bethnal Green and Bermondsey in London were evacuated after similar bombs were discovered.