THE sound of silence is to fall across a town centre on the hour - every hour, until Christmas.

The familiar chimes of Middlesbrough's Town Hall clock are being stilled while essential repairs are carried out on the clock tower. Shoppers and office workers will not be able to set their watches by the 113-year-old timepiece, until the countdown begins to Yuletide.

The clock faces will be netted at times during the 20-week £90,000 restoration project, which was ordered after cracks were discovered on the south and east faces of the tower, which has started to lean