A cold war has broken out between two sweet shops.

But the fight has left a bitter taste in the mouths of two opposing stores in Harbour Street, Whitstable.

Relations between the ice cream parlour and chocolate shop melted away after chocolate firm Coco accused ice cream deli Sundae Sundae of "bullying" and copying advertising slogans.

Sundae Sundae owner Steve Graham says he has done nothing wrong and has branded the whole episode "ridiculous".

Coco boss Vivienne Lane says she and a 16-year-old worker have become victims of verbal abuse in recent weeks since she began stocking ice cream.

Both shops, which are directly opposite one another, opened in 2006.

Mrs Lane says Mr Graham began selling chocolates last Christmas to undermine her sales, a claim he vehemently denies.

Mrs Lane said: "I feel quite embarrassed talking about this but I felt I could no longer sit and do nothing.

"The sale of ice cream is how most chocolate shops survive in summer and certainly what I intended to do."

Two reports to police were made in May and again last month when officers advised Mrs Lane that it was a civil matter.

Mr Graham said: "I find all this quite ridiculous. I have never made a deliberate attempt to sell something she does and as for being a bully, people who know me in this street would find that amazing.

"I did go over and ask her what she was doing when she started selling ice creams and other shop owners have said the same to me since.

"I never swore at her or threatened her. We are a close-knit community here and if someone sells a new product they check that someone else is not doing it already.

"I love this town and always planned to retire here."

Mrs Lane says that certain slogans have been copied "within minutes" by Mr Graham, including one that had a tongue-in-cheek reference to one of her suppliers after it featured on the BBC series The Apprentice.

She said that ice cream sales now make up close to 50 per cent of her business.

Police spokesman Jane Walker said a community support officer spoke to Mrs Lane last month and added that no action had been taken against Mr Graham.