Town's new £4.7m market called out for 'horrible' floor

"The one they pulled up was in better nick," said Christine Nichols of Nichols Seafood as she shakes her head in disappointment.

Mrs Nichols, whose family have been on Yarmouth market for more than 70 years, said it was the only thing letting the building down and that otherwise everything had worked out well.

Yuuki the mammoth is a draw for visitors but the flooring around his plinth is stained and dirty-looking. (Image: Liz Coates)

Although she said she had been reluctant to move, the new stall had delivered and was just needing a new counter - which was coming soon.

The floor, however, showed every mark and was stained from the day they moved in.

"It is a shame because we do like the building and we do like being here. Everything is very positive except for this," she said.

"It's getting worse and it has given people something to moan about.

"They will be pulling this up."

Great Yarmouth market place will be the venue for celebrations marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the completion of phase one of the £4.7m redevelopment on Wednesday (Image: Newsquest)

There were also piles of bird droppings inside which had been cleared away.

Joanne Ruddock at Copland's Family Bakers said she felt the same. Although trade was good and customers were finding her, the floor was "horrible".

"It's never been cleaned and it's just got worse," she said.

"A lot of the stall holders do clean outside the front of their stalls but not the whole thing. It just looks horrible, especially being a place for food outlets.

"I had a customer this morning complaining about it."

One shopper said: "It just needs a good scrub. Why don't they clean it or put some sort of coating on it?"

Great Yarmouth Borough Council said it was working on developing cleaning regime and said the public could help by using bins.

A statement said: “The new market has been designed to minimise places for birds to perch and nest, but as an open structure it can never be completely bird proof.

"Some additional bird wire will be installed later this month, and we will continue to monitor the situation as the building beds in. The public can help by not feeding birds, and ensuring any unwanted food is put in the bins.

“The market is a busy area and we regularly clean the floor areas. We are working with the architects and flooring supplier to develop the most effective cleaning regime for the new surface.