The man became aggressive in the town centre branch of Barclays Bank, prompting staff to dial 999.

Police arrived in force and after 10 minutes of talking with the man he was arrested and taken away by officers for questioning.

A cordon was put in place around the Broad Street bank as customers and bank staff were led from the building.

Twitter users speculated the customer had a bomb.

Sam Jones said: “Walked into town and half of Broad St was cordoned off cos someone took a bomb into Barclays. Police everywhere.”

Thames Valley Police spokeswoman Lucy Billen said they were called at 4.10pm to reports of a man being disruptive and said: “The main branch was closed while officers dealt with the man.

“He was then spoken to and he was arrested at 4.21pm for public order offences.

“The branch will remained closed for the rest of the afternoon and our officers are still there taking statements from people.

“The branch will re-open again tomorrow as normal.”

Barclays spokeswoman Julia Husband said: “We can confirm that there has been an incident at Barclays Broad Street Reading branch which is closed while the police complete their investigations.

"We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused.”