'Miracle I escaped venue roof collapse unscathed'

A man who narrowly avoided being hit by tonnes of masonry collapsing from the roof of a former church has said it was "literally a miracle" he escaped unscathed.

Kieran Hudson was walking towards The Monal wedding venue in Cleckheaton on Saturday morning when large chunks of its facade filled the pavement next to Bradford Road.

Mr Hudson, 27, said: "I'm not really a religious person, but I feel like someone was watching over me or luck was just on my side."

An engineer at the scene said "about 60 tonnes of masonry" required clearing, with the venue still cordoned off.

In a statement, the building owner said: "We are assessing the damage and hope to welcome guests back soon."

Mr Hudson, from Cleckheaton, was on his way to work when part of the building collapsed.

He said CCTV footage of the incident, showing Mr Hudson and a second pedestrian yards away from the collapse, had brought home how lucky he had been.

Kieran Hudson narrowly missed being hit by falling masonry

"Once the video got out, that's when it really sunk in - I realised how close I was to it," he said.

"It could have been a totally different story if I had been five seconds quicker, we wouldn't have been having this conversation today."

He said his father "can't watch" the widely circulated CCTV footage as he had been "too close to losing" his son.

Thomas Crompton, an engineer on site on Monday, said: "We worked through the night on Saturday making it safe, removing any imminent danger.

"Today we've brought in more specialist equipment to lift the heavy pieces of masonry down to the floor and then we're going to be scaffolding it."

The Victorian building, originally a church, had recently been transformed into a wedding venue

In a statement, the owner of the building said: "While there has been some disruption to our usual activities we are actively working to resolve the situation."

According to Historic England, the building was originally constructed as a church between 1857 and 1859.

The two-storey former Providence Place church was first listed in 1982.

More recently, the building was home to Aakash, believed to be one of Britain's biggest Indian restaurants, before it was transformed into a wedding venue.

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