Residents who were affected by an evacuation in the city centre today have reacted to the dramatic moment they were told to leave their buildings.

A 100-metre cordon was put in place in parts of Southampton city centre on Thursday after what was described as "a small piece of suspected unexploded ordnance", initially thought to be a World War II grenade, was discovered in road works on Cumberland Place at around 10.20am.

Several surrounding roads were closed, and Watts Park was cordoned off as the Army's bomb squad was called to the scene.

But it turned out to be a false alarm, as just after 1pm when officers inspected the device, cordons were removed and an officer said that it was not what was initially thought.

Hampshire Police have been asked for more information on what happened.

Reacting to the day's events, Tim Morgan, who works in the White building, said: "Just after 11 o’clock we were evacuated from the building.

"A colleague came into our meeting room and told us we needed to evacuate the building. It was all very strange, and the feeling was that it was not your ordinary drill.

"We all left our belongings and when we got outside a police officer told us the building was likely to be shut off for a few hours.

"We were very surprised when they said it was some kind of explosive, but we understand it to be historical and these things do happen.

"We have seen other stories of people that dug up World War I and II artefacts in their garden."

William Migel, a student at the language school on Cumberland Place, said: "We were sitting in class and two police officers barged in and said we are all going to need you to evacuate.

"I could not believe it. It was very strange and not something that happens every day. It makes you think when they are doing all these roadworks is this going to happen next week or next month will they find something else?"

During the incident, police blocked off part of the park and several roads.

John Wallace, CEO of Documentation Software, works on a building on the ring road.

He said: "We have been given very limited details. It has been a great test of our disaster recovery plan."

Hampshire Police confirmed the incident was stood down around 1pm, but did not give any details about the device found.