Emergency services including the Ministry of Defence are at Notte Street Part of Plymouth has been evacuated following the discovery of an unexploded bomb.
Workmen discovered the partially buried device at a building site on Notte Street, at about 1540 GMT.
Neighbouring buildings have been evacuated and a 300m cordon has been put in place while the Ministry of Defence (MoD) assesses the situation.
The MoD said the device was 18ins (45cm) long and thought to be a bomb from World War II.
The city centre is quieter now the rush hour is over but people are on their way home and not being able to get where they want to go.
A number of streets around the Barbican have been cordoned off and there’s a hefty police presence stopping people from crossing it.
Nobody knows how long this is going to go on for.
The Holiday Inn hotel has been evacuated and there are estimated to be about 300 people in the Plymouth Pavilions sports centre who have been unable to return home.
The area near where the bomb was found is on the edge of the city centre and there are some apartment blocks nearby.
Robert Maltby, from the Pavilions, said: “We’ve got the use of our 4,000 capacity arena, meeting rooms, and our catering staff are staying behind to open up our catering facilities.
“We’re basically going to be on standby until the authorities say we’re no longer needed.”
Police said that they were considering closing off Royal Parade to enable more police and military vehicles to access the area.
A police command centre has been set up in the Guildhall car park.
The MoD said that it planned to immobilise the device and make it safe before moving it elsewhere to be detonated.
Members of the public are advised to avoid the area.
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