Bluewater is a large shopping centre in Kent, visited by over 70,000 people a day. For the past few years, shoppers have reported seeing armed police walking around, but that soon became ordinary and understandable, and nothing major seemed to happen.

However, on the 21st October, disaster struck as shoppers in the food court heard  “the loudest bang ever” and someone scream ‘bomb!’. A fire alarm went off soon after. Shoppers fled the scene immediately, and officials rushed to investigate. Food and shopping were abandoned, sheer panic on shoppers faces as they ran away, fearing for their lives. The huge shopping centre was evacuated, leaving people wondering what was going on.

So what happened? After all the panic, it was revealed from a tweet by Kent Police that the bang was caused by a cooking appliance (oven) at Nandos. After people found out, they were left fuming. Mind-numbing terror had been caused by an oven. People that had gone out to have a good day had been left outside in a state of shock on a cold rainy day.

Whilst the incident can be laughed off in the future, it does hint to the paranoia of many that terrorists will attack.

“Is this what the world has come to?” said one shopper. It is true, what sort of world do we live in that one bang leaves us fearing for our lives? Have terrorists affected our lives so much that we are constantly living in fear?

After talking to some people, I found out that this problem is worse than initially thought. “My dad wouldn’t let me go to Bluewater for almost two months after the Manchester bombing, he was that worried” was stated by one, and others had similar responses, claiming that their parents were more cautious after each terrorist attack.

Many are worried that Bluewater will be a target for terrorists, as it is a large space usually filled with customers whenever it is open. However, this has been recognised, and police roam around, their presence reassuring customers that they are safe.

Even though the incident is shocking, it is not the first time Bluewater has been home to these kinds of problems. Last year on the 29th October, Bluewater was evacuated due to a fire alarm, and once again on the 2nd June this year, when a fire broke out. Whilst it is hard to prevent all accidents, should restaurants be kept on a tighter leash, in order to stop accidents like these from happening?