Noses are still wrinkling as Shepherd Neame’s “dreadful stench” continues to blight the lives of town centre residents.

Back in August, the brewery admitted it was the source of the pungent odour and said that work was under way to fix the issues caused by the new water recovery plant in North Lane.

Opened nine months ago and celebrated by former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, the plant has produced a sewage-like aroma which has swept across the town.

The reek has been noticed as far as away as Ospringe Road and Abbey Street but mainly affects neighbours in Partridge Lane, Thomas Road and West Street.

Richard Frost, Shepherd Neame’s head brewer, said this week: “We are continuing to work on counteracting the intermittent odour from the water recovery plant.

“This is from natural material, which is a by-product of our water recovery process.

“We have already invested in specialist measures to counteract the problem, with further improvements planned before Christmas.”

Mark Gardner, of Partridge Lane, said the pong had ruined his summer and he would be delighted if it did not ruin his Christmas as well.

He said: “It has now been going on for nine months.

“It can be absolutely dreadful. Sometimes it can go away for two or three days but then it comes back and it’s suffocating.

“If we get up in the night, you can sometimes smell it at 2am.

“It penetrates right in through the first floor of the house.

“We will be mighty relieved if it’s fixed before Christmas.”

Another resident, Chris Oswald-Jones, said: “I do not wish to close Sheps down, but they are an important enough business to do things correctly.

“I was helping the Environment Agency by monitoring how often the odour appeared. I have informed them that it would be useful to say it is 24/7.

“Personally, I smell no improvement and ask others to keep up with the complaints in writing and encourage Sheps to stop polluting our town.”