HAMPSHIRE police has put out a statement after armed police closed off the centre of Southampton this afternoon.

It said: "You may seen some increased police activity in the city centre in the last hour and this is because we were called at 3.41pm to reports of two people on the roofs above Specsavers and Poundland on Above Bar Street.

"It was reported that the two people were holding what looked like long barrelled firearms so we deployed to the area to carry out a thorough search.

"We can confirm that at this time, (approx an hour later) no one has been located, no one has been reported injured to us and we have not received any further calls. However, we remain at the scene and enquiries into the reports are ongoing.

"We know it’s the start of a bank holiday weekend and the town centre is busy, however we would ask that people try to avoid Above Bar Street, Portland Terrace and Bargate while we deal with this incident.

"We'll update you again when we have more info."