CHARITY shop manager Denise Barry is seeking help to tackle a mountain of pigeon excrement caused by hundreds of unwelcome visitors.

Denise runs the Oxfam shop in Northwich, which is home to 200 pigeons, who roost on the roof of the Weaver Square building.

Excrement from the birds covers the flat roof at the back of the shop and steps leading to the roof.

The birds also mess on the skips and the loading bay at the back of the premises and the shop front.

Denise has been the manager of the Oxfam shop for almost 17 years, and contacted the Guardian to highlight the extent of the problem she faces.

She has to clean the area leading to the back entrance regularly to avoid volunteers carrying excrement in on their shoes, and volunteers have started wearing gloves to open the mess-encrusted skips.

“I am really annoyed about the mess, and would like something done about it,” said Denise, who has contacted Cheshire West and Chester Council and the shop’s management company about the problem.

“The flat roof at the back of the shops and the steps are absolutely caked in pigeon mess, and I won’t open my window at the back because the sill is inches deep in the filth.

“It’s a disgusting smell, and is a health hazard if you breathe it in, which is why I don’t open the window.

“The pigeons have been a problem for the last two or three years, and there must be at least 200 of them now on our building.

“Every time you go out of the back door you can get pigeon droppings on your clothes, and we shouldn’t have to clean it up.

“We have to lift the lids on the skips at the back every day.

“We have started to wear gloves and wash our hands, but are still breathing it in – it’s an awful health hazard.

“I would like to see the pigeons removed, and part of the problem is because people feed them.”

Signs on shops in Weaver Square ask people not to feed the pigeons.