Northampton Greyfriars bus station tower demolished by crane

Work has started to demolish a tower and bridge at Northampton's Greyfriars bus station

Work has started to demolish a tower and bridge at a bus station once labelled the "mouth of hell".

The work, which started at the weekend, is part of the demolition of Northampton's Greyfriars bus station and office building.

Lady's Lane, which has been closed while the tower and bridge are removed by crane, will reopen at 18:00 GMT.

The destruction of the 1970s building will be completed on 15 March when it will be flattened using explosives.

The bus station will be blown up by the end of March 2015

The bus station was due to be demolished by the end of 2014, but the discovery of higher-than-anticipated levels of asbestos found in the site pushed the date back.

Costing the equivalent of more than £40m today, the building has been the subject of ridicule for decades as an over-ambitious example of bad planning.

It was derided by Channel 4 presenter and designer Kevin McCloud as "like a great big mouth of hell".