WATCH: 100-ton excavator rips down '˜eyesore' Leeds building

The claw-like excavator arrived in Chapel Allerton today from London to begin tearing down the four-storey former Yorkshire Bank office building.

The one-time processing centre has been abandoned for over a decade, and has become one of the area’s major eyesores.

The project will also include the removal of the building’s two-storey reinforced basements, which were home to a safe and secure vaults.

Once known as Allerton House, the building stands on the corner of Harrogate Road and Stainbeck Lane.

Demolition experts Kayedem expect to have cleared the site by next week, after which construction will begin on a new Aldi supermarket.