THORNBURY'S Wyevale Garden Centre was evacuated following a bomb scare this week as a storm raged on over the slaughter of a family of robins.

The Milbury Heath centre was closed for part of Tuesday while police investigated a telephoned threat - believed to be connected to the robins controversy.

Shoppers were allowed back after police confirmed it was a hoax and gave the all-clear.

The threat came as the business - part of Britain's largest garden centre chain - continued to come under fire from wildlife lovers for employing a pest control firm to destroy the birds which had been nesting in the centre.

Two fledgling chicks and one parent bird were shot early last week. The other parent escaped the firing squad and its whereabouts are unknown.

The firm, which promotes wildlife care and actually sells birds, birdseed and bird tables, has since expressed regret but insists it acted on public health grounds in the interests of customers and especially patrons of its recently refurbished Conservatory restaurant.

It stresses that before passing the death sentence it obtained the necessary licence from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which it itself under attack for giving the go ahead and is holding its own inquiry to check that procedures were properly followed.

The killings attracted huge publicity from the moment the story broke on BBC Radio Four's Today programme on Saturday morning.

TV camera crews descended on the centre where refurbishment was recently celebrated with a visit by TV gardening guro Monty Don.

RSPCA officials said they were saddened that other methods of dealing with the problem - if one existed - had not been tried before embarking on such drastic action. They also condemned DEFRA for sanctioning the application to despatch the robins.

Northavon MP Steve Webb this week tabled a Commons motion calling on DEFRA to fully explain its reasons for granting the licence.

"They are supposed to make sure that animals are not killed other than in exceptional circumstances," he said. "I simply do not believe these were exceptional circumstances.

"Frankly, I think DEFRA were at fault in granting the licence. But Wyevale should not have asked for it in the first place. With a bit more imagination and patience the problem would have solved itself when the chicks flew the nest."

Agriculture Minister Bed Bradshaw said licences to kill were issued only after other means of control had been fully investigated. In this case, he said, DEPFRA officials had assured him that normal practise had been followed.

"The reason that has been given is that the robins were nesting in the cafeteria, that they were defecating over food and there was a public health risk and all alternative non-lethal methods of excluding them had been looked into and deemed impractical," he said in a radio interview.

This week the Gazette received a steady stream of calls and visits from readers outraged by the cull.

Thornbury's Steve Kirk, a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Bristol Ornithological Club, said: "I have spoken to people who are determined never to trade there again.

"There are two parties to blame for this fiasco - Wyevale for taking bad advice from the pest control company and DEFRA for stupidly granting the licence. If they had taken advice for the RSPCA or RSPB, they could easily have come up with a much more friendly solution. They could surely have fashioned some sort of temporary tray under the nest. In any case, it would not have been long before the robins left the nest."

Pam Granger, from Stone, said: "I am absolutely disgusted. I will not be using the centre again and I hope other people will boycott it, too.

"The robins have been in there for ages. It was lovely to see them sitting on the plants, chirping away. If they were so worried about health and hygiene in the restaurant, why not make it bird proof in the first place. It has really upset me.

Another caller, who asked not be named, said: "This is a garden centre which sells birds tables and things of that nature. It makes you wonder just how interested in bird life they really are.

"Everyone I have spoken to is disgusted. If they had just left the birds a little while longer they would have flown away It is not good public relations and I think they will lose trade."

Staff at the garden centre this week refused to discuss the matter, referring inquiries to the company's head office in Hereford.

There, a spokesman declined to answer questions but sent the Gazette the following statement: "Regrettably, last week our garden centre at Thornbury was obliged to take action regarding birds which accessed the restaurant area.

"This was in order to comply with the Food Safety Act 1990. The legislation states that the sale of food contaminated with bird droppings is an offence. Whatever our private thoughts might be, in cases such as this, we are legally required to comply.

"Ecolab, a specialist company in the field, were consulted. They liaised with DEFRA and obtained and actioned the necessary licence."

The company added that the centre's primary concern was customers' health and safety. However, it fully understood and sympathised with the concerns that had been expressed and " sincerely apologised for any distress caused".