A GWENT pub was evacuated and a 200-metre exclusion zone put in place after police were alerted that two Second World War shells were there.

The Westlake Arms in Cwmavon, near Abersychan, was cleared as bomb disposal experts checked whether they were dangerous.

They ruled they were safe after an hour's investigation.

Landlord Cyril Davies revealed the shells had been in the family for more than 60 years. He said he had inherited them from his late father, Cyril Davies Jnr, who had kept them as mementoes from the war.

"He used to keep them on the hearth above the fire," said Mr Davies, 55.

"My mother used to use one of them when she was rolling out pastry."

His father, who worked in the steelworks at Pontlottyn, was in the Army during the war but Mr Davies is unsure where he found the shells. One weighed about six pounds, while the other was two pounds.

Mr Davies had never considered they might still be a risk until a customer in the pub, who worked for the Ministry of Defence, warned him to be careful.

"He said they might still explode so I put them in the cellar." Mr Davies then contacted police on Saturday morning.

"I knew once you called them that it would be a bit dramatic but it had to be done I suppose," he said.

He had five drinkers in the pub at the time but they were asked to leave when police arrived minutes after receiving the call.

They closed the pub at 12.05pm and cordoned off the area. Bomb disposal experts from England arrived at the pub by 2pm and within an hour had established that the shells were no longer live.

Inspector Lee Ford from Gwent Police said: "There are things like this discovered all the time. Sometimes people keep them without knowing what they are but they can still be dangerous."

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said all houses within the exclusion zone were evacuated for two hours.

The Westlake Arms is now open for business as normal.