Investigation underway after unplanned collapse spills former cinema into street.
Parts of Newcastle city centre were brought to a standstill last night after the old Odeon cinema collapsed into the street.
The old cinema is being demolished but onlookers told of their shock as the building “crumbled” into the street at around 11pm on Monday.
Scaffolding twisted into a mangled wreck on Pilgrim Street as debris were scattered across the road, missing bystanders by metres.
One eyewitness said she “dreaded to think what could have happened.”
The side of Pilgrim Street next to the building was closed to traffic at the time but the other side was open. Around ten people were waiting at two bus stops at the time.
A bus stop next to the building, which has been under demolition since January, was crushed and a clean up operation lasting several hours took place in the early hours of Tuesday.
A police cordon was put up in the aftermath and the road was closed to traffic. Around 6 am this morning the northbound side of Pilgrim Street reopened to traffic.
According to local sources, the company handling the demolition works is All Round Demolition, although this has yet to be confirmed.
