Staff and shoppers in Reading town centre were forced to evacuate Broad Street Mall this morning (23/4).

At around 9:34 am, the bi-annual evacuation plan took place to determine that all staff and visitors are aware of procedures during an emergency situation.

The evacuation took around 20 minutes and people were allowed back into the centre at 9:58 am.

Steven Connolly, the manager of Broad Street Mall said: “ It is a drill that we do twice a year so that people know how to safely evacuate the building in an emergency.

“We do different scenarios each time. This time it was a case where someone had supposedly fallen off a ladder and people needed to leave the building.”

One shopper who was in the building at the time said: “There was an announcement throughout Broad Street Mall and everyone had to get out straight away but we were allowed back in after a short time.

“It is definitely a lot quieter now than before in the mall.”