Police cordoned off Maynewater Lane, Southgate Street and Westgate Street after 200 litres of phosphoric acid leaked from a storage drum at 7pm.

A decontamination unit was set up at the brewery and workers evacuated after a connection pipe leaked during a delivery of acid, giving off dangerous gases.

Frances Brace, spokeswoman for Greene King, said: "It was a textbook incident.

"The few people left in the building were evacuated as a precautionary measure and the spill was dealt with by our people and the emergency services."

Fire crews from Bury Fire Station, Newmarket and a specialist chemical unit from Haverhill attended the incident, using gas-tight suits to tackle the spill.

The acid, which is used to clean the brewing pipes, was to be dealt with by the Environment Agency.

Mrs Brace said: "The key thing is to move forward and, through exhaustive investigations, make sure this doesn't happen again."

The incident was reported as safe at 9pm while the roads were re-opened just before 10pm.

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