Both Sainsbury’s and Wilko in Upper Brook Street have reopened following reports of a gas leak in Ipswich town centre.

Both shops were evacuated following the reports.

Since 11am, 16 reports of people smelling gas in the town have been made to the National Grid, a spokeswoman said.

This afternoon Upper Brook Street was closed while the leak reports were investigated, with National Grid engineers, Suffolk police and the county’s fire and rescue service in attendance.

A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said the store was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

A National Grid spokeswoman earlier said engineers were out in the town investigating the reports.

“Our guys on the ground have said there is a pungent smell in the air over Ipswich, which they are investigating,” she said.

“We don’t know what the mystery smell was but ut seems to have passed on and we didn’t find any traces [of a leak].

“It is important that if people do smell gas to call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 and we’ll get an engineer to investigate.”