A CAFE owner has demanded action to stop bin bags being dumped outside her town centre premises.

Janet Croden, who runs wartime-themed cafe For Teas on North Street, claims smelly rubbish is being dumped several times a day.

She said she and fellow traders near the junction with Church Green had to move bags away from their entrances every day.

She said: “When I come in every morning I generally see piles of bags against the window. It smells and it oozes.

“Customers can see the rubbish from the cafe window. I’ve had this problem for a year and a half.”

Mrs Croden believes the bags, which mostly contain household waste, are being dumped by residents of some of the flats above shops along North Street.

She said: “There are dots of rubbish all the way along the street. Some people bring it all the way down the street towards us.

“There’ve been metal beds. They dumped a tea trolley, a carpet and a bedroom cabinet on Church Green.”

Mrs Croden said Bradford Council collected household waste from North Street only once a week, but some residents believe they could leave the bags at any time.

She understood that only some of the flats along North Street had access to bins at the back of their homes.

She said she had complained to Bradford Council repeatedly since opening For Teas, which is set out like a Second World War cafe.

Mrs Croden added: “When we got letters last year from the council about dumping it eased up, then started again in the New Year.

“The street cleaners are very good. The guys with the mesh vans pick up the rubbish, but that compounds the issue and people put out more.

“If the rubbish goes out on a Saturday night, it stays all weekend.”

Dawn Woollard, who runs nearby DG Furniture in North Street, said: “I get rubbish dumped in the hall way every time I get to work. It’s horrible.”

A worker at the barbers’ shop next to For Teas agreed that rubbish bags were place against his window and had to be moved every morning.

A Bradford Council spokesman said officers were aware of the issue and were investigating with a view to resolving it.

Coun Val Slater, the council’s executive member with responsibility for environmental health, added: "We appreciate Mrs Croden's concerns. It is not acceptable for people to dump rubbish in this way."