MORE than 100 people were evacuated from Southampton’s Leisure World last night over fears of a fire.

Staff and customers raised the alarm after noticing a strange smell in screen 10 of the Odeon cinema at around 10.30pm.

The entire site, including attached restaurants and nightclubs, was evacuated while more than 30 firefighters investigated.

They found no trace of a blaze but believe the smell was caused by an electrical fault and have told cinema bosses to have the screen checked by an electrician.

Watch manager Stuart Vince, of St Mary’s fire station, said: “We had a call of a fire in a screen at the Odeon and there was a strong smell of an electrical fire.

"But we spent 30 to 40 minutes there checking everything and couldn’t find anything.

“We told them not to use the screen again until it was checked out by an electrician as we are putting it down to an electrical fault in one of the speakers.”

Six appliances attended, three from St Mary’s, two from Redbridge and one from Winchester.