Baristas dumped piles of rubbish outside a high street store, creating a “horrible mess” in the city centre.

Passers-by mistook Pret A Manger in Canterbury for a charity shop this morning, as litter spilled out onto the road with bags attracting seagulls and prompting disgust from locals and visitors alike.

Roger Hawkins was visiting the cathedral city from south London when he came upon the heaps of black sacks.

“When I was walking up I thought it was a charity shop,” said Mr Hawkins.

“It really doesn’t look great and it needs to get cleared up.

“Why is it there?”

A Pret A Manger staff member told KentOnline that the rubbish had been put out for collection last night, but for an unknown reason had not been picked up the following morning.

But no other stores appeared to have had the same problem.

Branded cups and packaging from the international chain cafe could be seen through the plastic bags, which were piled outside the cafe at its address at 10 Parade.

A food vendor situated right next to coffee shop worried the mound of detritus would discourage people from buying food from his stall.

“It’s very embarrassing, said Tamas Toth, who was setting up the Gourmet Sausage and Burger Company.

“It’s a mess, it’s unhygienic and they should find a better solution because it’s attracting seagulls.

“I am worried it will put people off coming to buy food - people don’t want to eat when they’re seeing rubbish all around.”

Canterbury City Council is responsible for organising the collection of household litter, but private businesses must arrange their own refuge pick-up.

“It’s a mess, it’s unhygienic and they should find a better solution because it’s attracting seagulls...”

The local authority’s press officer, Rob Davies, said: "It's really disappointing to see this has happened today”.

“Businesses have a duty to make sure their waste is picked up in a timely and responsible way, and clearly something has gone very wrong on this occasion.

"Our environmental enforcement team will be paying an urgent visit to Pret to investigate what has happened and ensure measures are in place to prevent it from occurring again in future."

Commenting on a picture of the rubbish in a local community Facebook group, one user remarked that residents routinely get fined for dropping sweet wrappers or cigarette butts before questioning: “This is fine?”

City councillor Connie Nolan (Lab, Barton), reacted to the post by responding to the resident’s question: “No it’s not okay and I’ve reported it online.

“As local councillors we’re totally against images like this that make people think Canterbury isn’t a great place to live or visit.”

A Pret spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise to the Canterbury community and visitors alike and are working with our waste management provider and team members to make sure this won’t happen again.

“At Pret, we are proud to be part of the communities where we have shops and are disappointed to have fallen short of our own standards on this occasion.”