Other neighbours would rather see the bananas gone for good.

“I live nearby and they’re very regularly here,” says 26-year-old Josh Trentham. “They are very annoying, I have no idea why they’re here.”

Jill Dowling added: “It’s so strange and disgusting, someone puts it there, and I don’t like it.”

Resident Janet Hutchinson, 81, said: “The bananas are clearly just bought, and the wildlife doesn’t touch them. They go mouldy – it’s gross.”

Another puzzled resident wondered if the gesture was perhaps a custom elsewhere.

Adam Castle, 34, said: “What is this thing? I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing or what, it’s strange. I’ve never heard or seen it anywhere else I’ve lived.”