A swarm of bees has caused a busy Kent Primark store to be evacuated.
The shop in the Whitefriars shopping precinct in Canterbury has now been shut for several hours.
A beekeeper has arrived to tackle the swarm, which has clustered around a hanging basket outside the store.
A cordon has been set up outside Primark as hundreds of bees buzz around outside.
An eyewitness said: “Many of them have now gone inside a cardboard box with the queen inside.
“Some are still flying around Whitefriars.
“Lots of people have stopped to watch the beekeeper at work.”
Shoppers were evacuated from the store this morning after the swarm was discovered.
The beekeeper disturbed the cluster and managed to contain the queen bee in a cardboard box along with the majority of the workers.
But this led to the insects flying around the Whitefriars area.
And there are still some clusters of straddlers near the Primark entrance.
The beekeeper taped closed the cardboard box but left a hole for any further worker bees to go into.
He has since left the scene but will return to check on progress.
It is not yet known when the store will reopen. As of 2.30pm, Primark was still closed.
Last month, a windscreen repairman stared in disbelief as a swarm of bees surrounded the BMW he was fixing and nested inside.
The Autoglass worker was said to be “shell-shocked” as the insects buzzed around the car in Coronation Square, Lydd.
The bees are thought to have been looking for a new place to live after outgrowing their hive when they landed on the BMW 2 Series.
KentOnline has approached Primark and Whitefriars for comment.