EXPLOSIVES experts evacuated part of Horwich yesterday after a bomb scare — only to discover the alert was caused by a keyring!

In the early hours of yesterday, regulars leaving the Brown Cow pub, in Church Street, Horwich, went back in after hearing a ticking noise coming from a post box outside.

Landlord Paul Joyce went to investigate and could hear the loud ticking from the pub’s doorstep — 10 yards from the post box.

He called police at 1.10am and officers were so concerned by the ticking noise they called out bomb disposal experts from the electronic device ordinance team in Cheshire.

Police evacuated the five guests who were staying at the pub and several neighbouring buildings before cordoning off the area around the post box, from Victoria Road to Mill Lane.

The Bomb Squad officers used a hi-tech robot to insert a small camera inside the post box and found the noise was coming from a keyring containing a clock.

A police spokesman said the explosives experts, police and firefighters, from Atherton and Horwich, were stood down at 5.30am.

Mr Joyce, aged 26, said: “We got a call around that time from the police saying the area was safe and we could go back home.

“They had told us we had to evacuate earlier, so it was myself, my fiancé Kelly Hambleton, two lodgers at the pub and a lad who was staying over, our rabbit and our dog all walking over to my mum’s house nearby in the middle of the night.”

He added: “When one of the customers said he could hear a ticking noise I thought he might have had one too many.

“But when I went outside it was quite loud.

“The police did a great job. There must have been about 10 officers in vehicles making sure everyone was at a safe distance and everything was okay.

“It is quite a funny thing to happen looking back but at the time it was very serious.” Miss Hambleton said: “I only found out I was pregnant recently and the doctor’s advice was not to get stressed — so this was something a bit out of the blue.

“We’re just glad it ended safely.

“It was a bit of drama but everything ended up okay.”

A fire service spokesman thanked Mr Joyce for alerting the emergency services.