Barclays Bank has apologised to neighbouring residents after an alarm rang out in Kendal for nearly eight hours at the weekend.

South Lakeland District Council received a total of nine noise complaints relating to Barclays on Highgate, where the alarm was triggered on Saturday and again on Sunday.

Danny Wood, who works at The Voodoo Lounge tattoo studio next door, said: "I finished work at about five o'clock [on Saturday] and it was still going then."

He added: "It's a nightmare when you're trying to tattoo as well."

Dr Josh Macauley, of Westmorland Homecare, said he had heard the alarm and pinned a notice to the bank building suggesting that people who were bothered by the noise could complain to the district council.

A Barclays spokesperson told The Westmorland Gazette: "We were aware that the alarm at Kendal branch was triggered at 4pm on Saturday and our security team attended the premises at 8pm and following a full search of the building they didn’t find anything concerning and reset the alarm.

"However, the alarm activated again at 4pm on Sunday and security staff searched the premises again at 7.40pm and discovered a pigeon had gained access and had activated the alarm.

"We are working with both the council and our premises team to prevent this happening again.

"We appreciate that the noise will have been very annoying and we apologise for any disturbance and inconvenience this has caused.”