PART of the road in Colebrook Street, Winchester is currently cordoned off to the public, following the collapse of a section of a roof.

Bricks from the roof of St John's Almshouse fell from around 20ft into the street earlier today. Noone was harmed in the incident.

Clive Cook, the director at St John's said: "We are not concerned about the safety of the building. It is safe.

"We do an annual inspection of it every year, so we are perplexed as to why this has happened but we are determined to get to the bottom of it all.

"The next step is to erect scaffolding tomorrow so an engineer can give us an answer as to why this has occurred."

The almshouse is one of four care sites in the city centre ran by the Winchester-based St John's Charity, which first formed in the 12th century.

Both staff members and community volunteers help run the sites that collectively accommodate between 90 and 100 residents.