The cordon has been lifted on Broadmead shopping centre in Bristol city centre.

Thousands of shoppers and shop workers were evacuated from Broadmead today following the discovery of a suspect package.

The bomb squad was called into the centre of Bristol to deal with what could have been an explosive device left near a bench outside Curry's.

The Bristol Post has learned that an aluminium case was spotted beneath a bench in The Podium by a CCTV operator, who called in the police.

It is not yet known what was inside the case but it was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Police put up a 100-metre cordon and closed off all entrances to the Broadmead shopping complex.

Police lifted the cordon at 2.45pm this afternoon and most of the shops have reopened.

The closure of Broadmead lasted a total of three hours, and about 65 stores were affected.

Shops inside the cordon were evacuated. Cabot Circus remained open, and so did parts of The Mall Galleries.

The new Quakers Friars shopping square, The Horsefair and Penn Street were also closed, but were reopened at 2.50pm.

Major stores such as BHS, Currys, Boots, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and Tesco were evacuated and closed.

It means that they all lost out on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.