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Newspaper office evacuated as roof collapses

More than 100 staff at a regional newspaper office were evacuated this morning after a roof collapsed during demolition work.

The incident occurred at the city centre offices of Bristol News and Media, publishers of the Bristol Evening Post where work is being carried out to dismantle a redundant press hall.

The presses were removed from the hall after printing of the Evening Post and sister titles moved to Didcot but the hall itself was still in the process of being demolished.

Staff were ordered to leave the building immediately after the collapse occurred at around 10am this morning.

One eye-witness told HTFP: “It was quite spectacular. There was a very loud rumbling noise and then they evacuated the building.

“Initially we weren’t sure if there was anyone trapped in there but we didn’t see any signs of any ambulances.”

The evacuation lasted about an hour before staff were allowed back in.

It is understood production of the paper was not affected.

9 comments

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  • December 13, 2010 at 11:50 am
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    A very loud rumbling noise followed by an evacuation… sounds like my bathroom.

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  • December 13, 2010 at 11:52 am
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    After this incident the papers coming out of Bristol may contain some news for a change!

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  • December 13, 2010 at 12:51 pm
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    Duffo, that might be true but it will be a day late in all probability.

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  • December 13, 2010 at 1:03 pm
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    To Sly Dig … isn’t it funny how it’s OK for the Guardian, Sun etc to be ‘a day late’ but not regional papers. In truth, 99 per cent of stories will be new to most readers and in fact, going back down the years, most stories were always done the day before. The concept of the ‘evening paper’ went the way of the flat cap. ‘Sly Dig’ says it all, really. Or should that be ‘Bitter former employee who harking back to the halcyon days of 50 subs doing 10 pages’

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  • December 13, 2010 at 1:27 pm
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    Good work Fred. Down table failed subs do tend to rule the roost on here.

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  • December 13, 2010 at 1:54 pm
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    @Fred. Absolutely spot on. Not a popular view, but at least (and last) an intelligent one.

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  • December 13, 2010 at 4:01 pm
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    Looks like the roof has finally caved in on the ill-fated subbing hub…

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  • December 13, 2010 at 4:28 pm
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    Umm Excuse Me People. But I Was A First Hand Witness. It Was A Domino Effect. And It Was Terrifying. All You Could See Was Dust And A Builder Nearly Got Crushed, He Got Out The Crane On Time. This Happened At About 9.45, And We Were Evacuated Until About 10.30. But Then Us In The Hub Had To Be Placed Somewhere Else Within The Building Because They Were Doing A Health And Safety Check And They Had To Get A Structural Engineer In As There Were Fears Of A Crack Against The Hubs Wall. But We Are Now Safely Back In The Hub, Work As Normal.

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  • December 13, 2010 at 5:44 pm
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    Is Anon from the Bristol hub and American headline writer?

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