Man arrested after restaurant blast

Police said they had arrested a man after an explosion in the centre of Exeter today.

The blast, described as "small", happened shortly before 1 p.m. in a restaurant in the recently opened Princesshay shopping mall.

The man was slightly injured in the incident at a branch of the Giraffe restaurant chain and was taken to hospital.

"There was a very small explosion, nobody was injured except the person who caused the explosion," said Juliette Joffe, a Giraffe director in London.

"There was very minimal damage, everyone has been evacuated quickly and efficiently. It's now a crime scene and in the hands of the police," she added.

She said the restaurant would have been "pretty full" at the time of the blast.

Police said they had been called to the scene by the ambulance service reporting there had been a small explosion and that one person was injured.

"There is now one man in custody who has slight injuries which are non-life-threatening", a police spokesman told reporters.

He said the city centre would remain closed "for some while to come" while officers checked that there was no further threat to the public.

Police said bomb disposal officers had arrived to assist other emergency services.