WORKERS shot accusing glances at colleagues, while shoppers checked their shoes to make sure they hadn’t trodden in something back in August 2010.

People had been choking and pinching their noses as a foul pong descended on Taunton in the final week of August, 2010.

Some guests at The Castle Hotel kicked up a stink and there were even complaints as far out of town as Cotford St Luke.

The County Gazette revealed the source of the stench as chicken manure spread on fields.

Castle Hotel director Kevin McCarthy got on to environmental health officers when guests started turning up their noses.

“It was disgusting, and we’ve had some grumbles and complaints,” said Mr McCarthy.

“It has been warm so guests have been opening their windows, and it wasn’t a happy experience.

“They want to know what’s causing it and what we’re doing about it, but there’s nothing we can do. These people could go away and make comments about it on Trip Advisor, which damages us and impacts on Taunton.”

Mr McCarthy confirmed that the pong was smelt in Cotford St Luke, while earlier in the summer there was a stench “closer to raw sewage” around Galmington.

A Taunton Deane Council spokeswoman, while not poo-pooing the story, said the whiff, which was particularly strong in the town centre and Comeytrowe, came from “chicken manure being spread on fields”.

She said: “Our environmental health team checked to ensure that the manure was incorporated (ploughed) in within 24 hours of being spread, in line with the Farming Code of Practice.

“Smells like this are usually very short-lived and disappear quickly after manure is ploughed into the soil.”