VALENTINE'S Day afternoon in 1982 saw an explosion rock the centre of Newton Abbot.

The gas explosion in the recently opened multi-million pound Market Walk complex left the area looking like the aftermath of the Blitz.

It ripped though the Post Office, a bakery, Pollyannas wine bar and the Granada TV rental shop and many business in nearby Courtenay Street had their windows shattered by the force of the explosion.

Fortunately the time of the blast - just after 2pm on a Sunday afternoon, meant the area was deserted and only casualty was a woman who had been strolling in Market Square and was treated for shock.

Police at the time commented that had it been a weekday they would have expected dozens of people to have been killed and hundreds injured.