VALENTINE'S Day afternoon in 1982 saw an explosion rock the centre of Newton Abbot.
The gas explosion in the recently opened multi-million pound Market Walk complex left the area looking like the aftermath of the Blitz.
It ripped though the Post Office, a bakery, Pollyannas wine bar and the Granada TV rental shop and many business in nearby Courtenay Street had their windows shattered by the force of the explosion.
![The wrecked Post Office](https://www.teignmouth-today.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/01/26/10/14/The%20wrecked%20Post%20Office.jpg?trim=0,195,0,194&width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
![The shattered interior of Pollyannas wine bar](https://www.teignmouth-today.co.uk/tindle-static/image/2024/01/26/10/44/The%20shattered%20interior%20of%20Pollyannas%20wine%20bar.jpg?trim=0,137,0,136&width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
Fortunately the time of the blast - just after 2pm on a Sunday afternoon, meant the area was deserted and only casualty was a woman who had been strolling in Market Square and was treated for shock.
Police at the time commented that had it been a weekday they would have expected dozens of people to have been killed and hundreds injured.