Ghostly goings-on in a centuries-old shop are making mischief for a delicatessen owner.

Lee Spencer, of Spencer's Deli, in Westgate Street, Gloucester, believes a poltergeist is responsible for stock jumping off shelves, a hob which switches itself on, taps which don't work filling sinks to overflowing during the night, and pinching the back of his mother-in-law's legs.

"Some people say it's a load of rubbish but so many things have happened here that there has to be something in it," said Lee, 36.

His wife Edyta, 33, and mother-in-law Bozeva won't work in the shop alone but Lee's not afraid of what he thinks is the presence of a priest and two children.

"There is a cake on the top shelf which keeps falling off," he said. "I have come in to the kitchen at the back, and there's been no-one in there yet all the gas burners are on.One morning, the plug, which had been left on the side, was in the sink and was overflowing with water – the tap doesn't work.

"Edyta's mum felt a pinch on the back of her leg and the clairvoyants say there is a four-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl in here, as well as a priest."

He believes the building which is home to the former Westgate Street Butchers is around 400 years old.

It backs on to College Green and Gloucester Cathedral and he thinks a tannery used to operate at the back.

He has had three clairvoyants in to the property, and ghost hunters. The ghost hunters found "orbs" in photographs they took, which they say indicate a presence. They also photographed a shadow crossing a room.

"They say someone may have died here, I don't know," said Lee."But I can feel a presence here."