"The worst thing I've seen is one landing on the head of an old lady who had a hot dog. She obviously dropped it and the same gull took it away really fast, the woman was terrified," he said.

"It's never been as bad. This is the worst year," Jack Messenger, from the Sea Haze Bar, another beach-front restaurant said.

"It's probably best for us, because when the seagulls eat their food, they (the customers) come and get more," he joked.

It is not only seaside towns that are suffering, with inland cities such as Bath and Bristol reporting problems.

Experts blame a combination of factors for this summer's Hitchcockian events.

They include gulls becoming more accustomed to living close to humans and the birds being particularly aggressive in July when they have young in their nests.

Three pets have been pecked to death by seagulls in southwest England in recent months: a turtle, a chihuahua and a Yorkshire terrier.

"Blood was coming out of his head. It was like a murder scene," the Yorkshire terrier's owner, Emma Vincent told reporters.

Even Prime Minister David Cameron has swooped into the debate.

"I think a big conversation needs to happen," he said.

"Reading the papers this morning about how aggressive the seagulls are now in St Ives, for instance, we do have a problem."

It is forbidden to kill seagulls, so the only way to fight them is to destroy their eggs or release birds of prey to hunt them.