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An unopened Victorian soft drink has been discovered by archaeologists ahead of work to turn a shopping centre into a new science hub.

Archaeologists have been excavating a Cambridge car park as part of a multi-million pound project to turn the Grafton shopping centre into labs and offices.

Les Capon, project manager with AOC Archaeology, said he believed part of the area could have been a blacksmith's workshop after discovering evidence of a forge and an anvil.

He added that it was rare to have found the drinks bottle in one piece as children often smashed them to get the small marble out of the glass.

"Archaeological excavation gives us an insight into the people who lived here, what they were doing and sometimes what their social status was," Mr Capon said.

"In ash pits [where rubbish would be buried in gardens] is where we get the goodies.

"A lot of the broken things you see in museums come from the rubbish pits of the past… they tell us what life was like, the status of the people living there, how rich they were and what they were consuming or throwing away."

While excavating the area in Cambridge, Mr Capon said they came across a glass soft drinks bottle he estimated dated from the 1890s.

The bottle has a squeeze neck which still hold the marble inside that would have helped stop the fizz escaping the bottle.

"Usually these bottles are broken by children to get the marble out, but this one is complete and may have been stored in a basement on a shelf and was never taken out prior to demolition," Mr Capon added.

The archaeologist added he was not sure what some of the buildings at the site were previously used for, until they started to dig.

One space had a section in the floor that was likely to have held an anvil as archaeologists found bits of broken metal around it.

They said the ground surface was "hard worn" and there was an "area of disturbance" in the corner, which could represent the location of a forge.

Construction work is beginning on the final stage of a cycleway which will eventually form part of a 26-mile route.

The A435 cycleway route scheme to connect Bishop's Cleeve in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham is being built to improve connections between the two and provide full access to the Gloucestershire Cycle Spine.

The final phase, beginning on 19 May, will include essential repairs to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) bridge, with a full road closure between 2 June and 8 September.

A northbound closure only will be in place from 8 September until 31 October, with work due to finish completely by the end of January 2026.

A massive cliff protection scheme is likely to go ahead this year after a council agreed to bring forward investment.

Seaton Hole on the south coast has suffered repeated major landslips that have left beach users and coastal homes in danger.

East Devon District Council said 7,000 tonnes of rock must be delivered by sea to Seaton by September to be able to press ahead with the project before prices go up.

The council's cabinet recommended an upfront investment of £673,500 this year to enable the £2.2m scheme to go ahead with a final decision due to be made by full council on 18 June.

The council said the decision was "critical to help reduce delays and cost increases".

Geoff Jung, cabinet member for environment at East Devon District Council, said: "Approval from council will allow us to push ahead and order the new rock to ensure best value for money now, as delays may result in higher costs being incurred next year."

The project included increasing the volume of existing rock armour at the base of the cliffs, upgrading the steel baskets used to hold rocks in place and maintaining the current seawall.

The total cost is expected to be £2.2m and has already been approved by the Environment Agency.

The council said it was confident planning permission would be granted, as no major issues were raised during the pre-application process.

The report said there was a "small risk" of not getting planning permission but "in the worst-case scenario" that would result in the council having rock armour for future schemes.

A motorbike rider has suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash in Rotherham, police said.

Police were called to reports of a collision on Barnsley Road in West Melton just after 23:00 BST on Tuesday.

It was reported a 46-year-old man had come off his bike, and no other vehicles were involved, South Yorkshire Police said.

Anyone with footage or who witnessed the incident is urged to contact the force.

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About 7,000 families in east London are set to benefit from a council's universal school uniform grant.

The £50 will be available to children who are entering their first year of primary, and £150 for secondary school, if their families have a household income of £50,350 or less.

Lutfur Rahman, mayor of Tower Hamlets, said it would "go some way" to support children in the borough, while Mohi, a local parent, said school uniform costs were a "matter of worry" for himself and his family.

It comes as the government's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill looks to limit the number of branded uniform items a school can require, to ease the financial burden on parents.

"I'm working in a solicitor's, but you know, day by day our costs and expenses are really high," Mohi said.

"As a parent, we always think ahead. So [uniforms] is something that is a matter of worry for me and my family."

The head of London Enterprise Academy said its school uniform costs were more than £200, but that they supplied some items to students free of charge.

"I realise it's a very expensive time in August for parents, so as a school, since we opened, we subsidised the uniform," its principal Ashid Ali said.

"All of our students will get a free PE kit when they join our school, and when they move to Year 10, we have always provided free blazers, as the children are growing up."

Suraia, a student at the school, said when pupils felt "inferior" to their peers because of their clothing, it affected "literally everything", including their education.

Tower Hamlets Council announced the school universal uniform grant earlier this year.

Mr Rahman said: "It will go some way in supporting our youngsters at primary school and when they go into secondary school.

"Giving them some financial help, some 7,000 children in a year will be supported."

The City of London offers grants to families that earn under £7,400 or are on benefits, while Westminster City Council provides a grant to families eligible for free school meals. Wandsworth Council offered a voucher scheme.

To try to reduce costs for everyone, the government is proposing a limit of three branded uniform items at primary school and four at secondary.

"This means, for the first time, no school in England will be able to require unnecessarily large numbers of branded items, so no parent will be unfairly disadvantaged," a spokesperson for the Department for Education said.

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