A HUGE swarm of bees descended on a Southampton ice cream parlour this afternoon, prompting the scene to be taped off.

“Thousands” swooped on Portswood Road at around lunchtime, landing on tables and prompting a call to police.

The scene at Scoops Gelato was taped off as people rushed to avoid the swarm, with a beekeeper later clearing the insects.

The apparent invasion came as the weekend’s hot weather continued across Hampshire.

Marlee Moret, of Kings Estates letting agents next door, said: “There was thousands of them. Thousands.

“It was just outside the office, people were ducking and diving and then they congregated on a table.

“I don’t think anyone got stung.”

Erica White took to Twitter to describe how 200 bees were “flying around” the area at 4.15pm and tried to get into a bus near Portswood Broadway.

“Why is Portswood full of bees?” asked Grace Davis on social media.

The scene was cleared by around 4.30pm, according to local businesses.

Maddy Hobbs, a supervisor at the Trago Lounge bar across the road, said the swarm was the size of a bus window.

“A man in a red beekeeping suit come along and he looked a little bit like Father Christmas,” she said.

“He did something to them, they all flew up in a massive lump in the air and they all flew down the high street, sat outside the lovely hairdressers, then left. There was a lot of bees.”

A female cyclist rode through the swarm but was unaffected, Ms Hobbs added.

A Scoops Gelato spokeswoman said: "Somebody has come and taken the bees away already and we are open again now.

"We were closed for about one or two hours this afternoon."

Several witnesses said three police officers were on the scene, but a force spokesman said no one was deployed and that the issue was referred to Southampton City Council.