Local landmark Campbell's Tower makes way for Tesco in King's Lynn

Over 3,000 people turned out on a cold and frosty January morning to watch the demolition of the iconic Campbell's Tower in King's Lynn today.

The tower has been a landmark in the town for over 50 years and competition winner Sarah Griffiths performed the final act to send the tower crashing down. Contractors had prepared the tower by leaving it standing on ten legs with the explosion knocking out the front and then the rear supports to ensure that the tower fell in the planned direction.

Roads in Lynn were blocked as people struggled to get close to the demolition site, and many people travelled for over an hour to be there to witness the event. Mark Tonnision from Wicklewood in Norfolk told us that he'd bought his family along because the tower has always been an important feature of journeys to and from Lynn. "It's really sad to see it go and I'm not the only one who is a bit disappointed that Tesco couldnt have found some way to incorporate the building into the new store...it's surely not beyond them with today's technology to have made that happen," he said as he waited with his wife and two daughters to see the tower fall.

Others commented that whilst it was exciting to be there, the nature of the fall wasn't quite what the younger members of the family had been expecting! Local mum, Kirsten Hobbs said that her 7 year old son Jake had followed the demolition with a comment of "Is that it?" as he'd been anticipating more of a cascaded fall than the big single thump that the tower made as it hit the ground. Many of the onlookers were surprised by the vibrations through the ground and there were more than a few screams of surprise.

So, that's it. The Campbell's Soup Tower is no more and progress in the form of a brand new Tesco will take it's place, but one can't help thinking that the skyline of Kings Lynn has been changed forever, and not necessarily for the better.....