Rackheath blast - panic in the local pub

Panic consumed a pub that was less than a mile from the blast at Rackheath Industrial Estate.

At The Green Man pub on the busy A1151 Wroxham Road the explosion was still so loud that customers ran outside, scared that a vehicle had crashed into the pub.

Less than a mile from the blast on Rackheath Industrial Estate is The Green Man pub where the explosion was still so loud that customers ran outside, scared that a vehicle had crashed into the pub on the busy A1151 Wroxham Road.

Head chef Neal Colman, who lives on site, said: 'I heard the bang and the door rattle so my first thought was that someone was trying to break into the kitchen.

'A lot of people in the restaurant then screamed and ran outside because they had felt the building shake and didn't know what was happening.'

Manageress Denise Griffiths was at home on nearby Canfor Road in Rackheath when the actual blast happened but soon got to the pub to find out what was happening.

She said her and her partner had originally thought the explosion was a Second World War bomb at the former RAF site, such was the noise. She said: 'I rang up the pub as soon as it had happened to make sure everything was all right because I knew we were quite busy.

'The staff said that our customers were very worried and thought something had come off the road. We were sitting watching television at home and heard the biggest bang I have ever heard in my life.

'It was definitely scary and now we know a bit about what happened, it is amazing that nobody was hurt.'