A street was closed by bomb squad police and residents told to leave their homes after a landscape gardener unearthed a suspected unexploded bomb.

An area near Clapham Common was on high alert on Friday after the bomb dating back to the Second World War was discovered in a back garden of a home.

Residents, shop-keepers and employees in roads surrounding Narbonne Avenue in Clapham were shocked to be told by specialist police officers to leave their homes and businesses while the device was made safe.

It was discovered by an employee of Paul Etienne, 47, the owner of Etienne Gardening Services, who was working on the garden of a client when the discovery was made on Friday at 3pm.

The bomb found in Clapham

Mr Etienne said: “He found a bomb and gave it to me.

“I took it to my van and took it to the next street where someone I knew who had an interest in the Second World War lived.

“He said it’s a bomb – let’s call the police.”

Mr Etienne said he immediately took it back to the house where it was found and alerted the police and the owners, who came home to find the police had closed the road and put a cordon around the area.

He said police officers told them to stop digging in the garden and to get out.

Mr Etienne said: “It was really scary.

“There were police everywhere – seven or eight vans and policemen running and shouting.”

He said he had an interest in war films and was excited to see the device in real life but it quickly dawned on him it could have exploded.

Mr Etienne said: “It was full of mud so I used a tool to clean it – I had it for a while and had been holding it.

“If it was going to go off it would have done.”

News of the bomb hit Twitter on Friday. One user, Judy Mitchem said: “Second World War bomb found in Narbonne Ave, it's all going on in Clapham.”

Another user Stephen Oxenham ‏said: “BreakingNews : Suspected #Bomb found in #AbbevilleRoad #Clapham #london . #Bomb #Squad on location and most of the road closed.”

Mr Etienne said the team had returned to work 'carefully' yesterday.