Ghostly goings-on plagued staff at a Sidmouth shop until they brought in a spiritualist – and now they hope they can get along with the restless soul.

Employees at New Look are convinced the store is haunted by a ghoul named Gladys whose conservative tastes means she disapproves of the stylish wares.

They faced slamming doors, smashing vases and spooky apparitions for three weeks until a medium stepped in and they now work happily with her.

“We haven’t seen her but we’ve all seen things out of the corner of our eye,” said one worker, Deej Helliker.

“The atmosphere was horrific at one point.”

He said a bolted door had been forced open on one occasion, and on another, flowers they left to show they respected the spirit had been stamped into the floor.

Naysayers told them some of the noises could a trapped seagull or the scaffolding work up the road, but they don’t buy it and say it fails to explain an ‘almighty bang’ or them feeling breath on their necks.

Deej said the paranormal activity began a few weeks ago, possibly because he and his colleagues are all new at the shop, but previous employees have not experienced anything spooky.

His mum, Linda, is the Exmouth medium who helped them make up with Gladys, and now the staff talk to her when they arrive and leave and have put down salt to purify the site.

“Mountain Warehouse is also haunted but we don’t know if it’s the same ghost.”

“The staff across the road in Fore Street say their poltergeist moves a mannequin and seems to only haunt the back of the shop – and it spiked at the same time as at New Look.”

Manager Sam Pople said: “You always catch things out of the corner of your eye. There’s been no banging but you just get the feeling that things have moved slightly, even when there’s no one in the shop.”

His colleague Charmaine Richens said she is not convinced but would be interested to find out if anything happened to cause the shop to be haunted.

Is anywhere else in Sidmouth haunted? Did a tragedy happen in any of the shops?

Do you believe in ghosts? Email sidmouth.letters@archant.co.uk.