Think of Whitstable and you think of oysters.

The town's links to the seafood delicacy date back to Roman times, with the shellfish industry big business in the popular coastal destination. But could that be about to change?

Whitstable oyster business says sewage leaks have destroyed their reputation

One of Kent’s biggest shellfish operators says people have “lost confidence” in Whitstable produce, with customers snubbing its world-famous oysters amid the ongoing sewage scandal engulfing the county's coastline.

Graham West, who heads West Whelks in the town’s harbour, believes 150 years of heritage “has gone out of the window in one hit”.

He blames his struggle to sell Whitstable shellfish on the saga surrounding Southern Water dumping waste water into the sea. “The public have lost all confidence,” the 59-year-old says.

Not all traders have had the same experience. The Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company says it has seen an increase in demand over the last two years.

But Mr West insisted: "They will not buy anything that has a Whitstable label on it.

“I could buy Whitstable oysters and put them in my (purification) tanks, but I can’t sell them. I chuck them in the skip because they are dead.

“If I buy something from Jersey or Ireland, I can sell them and people will buy them.

“The minute I put a Whitstable label on them, because the sea is polluted, it cannot be rectified as far as the public is concerned.”

Mr West has been forced to import products from Jersey and Ireland, which costs him an extra 20p per oyster.

“The consequence of that, if you are looking at 5,000 oysters a week, is I would lose £1,000,” he added.

He branded such losses "catastrophic", but these issues are not just affecting oysters.

“I also process whelks, and people don’t want to buy them if they have a Whitstable label on,” he said.

“I’ve had people who I supply say ‘take them back, Graham. Change the label to say they’re from somewhere else’, but that is against the law.”

Mr West has blamed his inability to sell Whitstable products on the much-publicised waste water releases of Southern Water.

The company was hit with a record £90 million fine last July after unleashing up to 21 billion litres of sewage into protected waters between 2010 and 2015.

And it continues to face criticism over permitted releases off the Kent coast during periods of heavy rainfall, some of which have sparked warnings to bathers to avoid swimming in the sea.

Mr West says he would like better communication from the firm regarding when it plans to release in the area and how this impacts the sea - not just bathing areas.

“All of our 150 years of heritage has gone out of the window in one hit,” he added.

“We have never had this before in our lives. We know this has been going on in the industry for years and years - but because we do due diligence, we have made our products safe.”

Oysters are now seen as a fundamental part of the identity of Whitstable, which has been associated with the seafood for hundreds of years.

The famous molluscs have been harvested in the town since the Roman times, with oyster shells from Whitstable even discovered in the Colosseum.

Ownership of the Whitstable oyster beds was granted by Royal Patent in 1574 to Thomas Henage and others, who leased them to local fisherman.

The Company of Free Fishers and Dredgers of Whitstable (CFFDW) had the benefit of the oyster fishery in Whitstable.

Parliament passed an act in 1793 which gave ownership of the fishery to the company.

CFFDW became the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company (WOFC) in 1895, which took control of the oyster fishery.

In the 1860s, there were about 80 million oysters being sent each year to Billingsgate - but by the 1970s a succession of bad winters, disease and pollution had virtually wiped out the entire stock.

The Whitstable Oyster Festival continues to be held each summer, attracting thousands of people to the town.

The WOFC has urged water companies to invest in improvements.

“We are the only company producing market-sized Whitstable Rock Oysters," a spokesman said.

"We do not supply West Whelks. Our experience does not tally with that in this report, indeed the reverse is true.

"We and other UK oyster producers have seen the demand for oysters in the UK expand massively over the past two years as people look to buy locally produced, sustainable food.

'The public have lost all confidence. They will not buy anything that has a Whitstable label on it...'

"We are currently expanding our purification capacity using Marine Management Organisation grant support to meet the demand.

"So far this week we have sold in excess of five tonnes of Whitstable oysters, in what is a traditionally quiet period.

"We don’t import any market-sized oysters, only seed oysters to grow on from France as they are unavailable in the UK. This year we have imported 12 million to meet the increasing domestic demand.

"Whilst water quality is an issue in the UK, we now have one of the most stringent pre-harvesting risk assessment and protocols in the industry to make sure our oysters are safer than they have ever been.

"We hope that Southern Water and other water companies around the country put the necessary investment in place to ensure that water quality improves in the near future."

The sale of oysters caught off Whitstable was twice suspended last summer following reports people had fallen ill after eating them.

As many as 100 people were said to have experienced sickness, and the WOFC's shellfish farm was shut down during investigations.

Normal service was soon resumed, with the WOFC saying its oysters "were rigorously tested for norovirus and all tests came back negative".

Also last year, controversial oyster trestles erected on Whitstable’s coastline by the WOFC were granted planning permission following a public inquiry.

The firm won its appeal to overturn a decision by Canterbury City Council to remove the metal racks.

Meanwhile, opinion was divided in Whitstable earlier this week when we spoke to people about whether they would eat the molluscs from the town.

Local fisherman Andy Riches says the Southern Water releases are impacting his business and a lot of others in the town.

But he still feels comfortable eating the slimy molluscs on a weekly basis.

“The oysters I catch are native oysters and they are four miles off the land,” he said.

“They are tested once a month for Canterbury City Council and they go to a lab in north London - they are as clean as a whistle.

“But because those oysters come from Whitstable, people are not interested in buying or eating them.

“There is nothing wrong with them - I eat them myself every week - but people will just not purchase them because they’ve come from Whitstable and we have a sewage spill happening a lot of the time.”

Mr Riches says oysters caught along the shore where the releases are taking place will be feeding in areas that are polluted.

“Although there is a lot of water and it will dilute it, there is still a lot of pollution there when the initial spill is there,” he added.

“An oyster is a filter feeder so it feeds on everything that is in the water column, so naturally it is going to feed on what Southern Water is pumping out.”

Delia Fitt, who runs Wheeler’s Oyster Bar in the town centre, says she would still eat oysters, and has attempted to reassure people they are safe to eat.

“We had to modify techniques slightly just to make our purification very good, but now there shouldn’t be problems,” she said.

“I think people are being put off by even coming to Whitstable.

“They come to the harbour, the sea, to walk their dogs along the beach and kids to swim.”

But Maureen Irving had reservations about tucking into them.

“If they are polluted, you can get a lot of stomach bugs and be medically not well,” she said.

“A lot of people think they come straight from the sea. When you see the oyster beds out there, you see them picking them and you think they go straight onto the shelves.”

Another Harbour visitor, Mark Hackett, says he would still be comfortable eating them.

“From what I believe, they are bottom feeders anyway and live on everything that is dead when the tidal flow comes," he said.

“It must be everything that comes out of the Swale, which probably isn’t good and is not clean water anyway."

Oyster-lover Bill Martindale has also shunned molluscs from the town.

“I certainly would be put off because if there is any adverse reaction to the oyster, even if they say they clean it, once it comes to shore, you would be naturally put off,” he said.

“If there are other options, I would probably have those.”

Water firm bosses have threatened to take action to recover money from residents who have stopped paying their bills because of the sewage leaks.

A number of frustrated people - including Faversham-based rocker Bob Geldof - have vowed to withhold payment from the under-fire company until the issue is resolved.

Locals are refusing to pay the Southern Water portion of the charge, while still paying South East Water, which issues a joint bill on behalf of both firms.

Both companies have now said “further action will be taken to recover the non-payment”.

A spokesman for the company said: “Bathing water results released this week by the Environment Agency (EA) show that bathing water is at the highest quality it has been since the EA started testing water quality.

“Thirty years ago only 41% of designated waters met the basic minimum standard. Today 80 out of 83 are excellent or good and none are below sufficient.

“In addition, Southern Water has publicly committed to cutting storm overflows by 80% by 2030. This is part of the company’s zero tolerance approach to pollution and is part of a wider programme of investment to deliver a step change in water quality in the area.”

A public meeting was called in August at St John’s Centre, Swalecliffe, where Southern Water was grilled about releases from its treatment works.

Two directors said about £16 million would be spent to improve the site.