Members of a charity knitting group have been barred from Marlborough Library for making too much noise and taking up too much room.

The group formed in spring this year and meets twice a month to make winter woolies to sell in the Prospect Hospice shop in the High Street.

Members met in the library but were forced to move to the café in St Peter’s Church after complaints that they took up too much room and were too noisy.

Founding member Sally Elstub said: “It’s disappointing that we can’t use the library because it is a community asset and it would be nice if more groups were able to use it.

"I thought the group would bring a bit of life into the library, which can sometimes be quite empty, but unfortunately it just wasn’t compatible.

“One gentleman who uses the library all the time came up to me to complain that we were being too noisy but the library staff were very good to us and very accommodating, in fact one of them is part of our group.

“The traditional idea of a library is complete silence and obviously we were chatting while we were knitting.

“There is not a lot of space in the library and people needed the tables to study and I understand that.”

Mrs Elstub said: “It’s a shame that we can’t use the library any longer but St Peter’s are happy to have us.

“We go in there and have a cup of coffee and because it’s a café it has a more relaxed atmosphere.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We agreed for the knitting group to use the space in the library on a trial basis to see if it would work. “However, there is limited space in Marlborough Library and the tables were needed for those using large reference books and laptops. “The space in the library needs to work for everyone in the community and, unfortunately at this time, we could not accommodate them.”

The group meets at St Peter’s café once a fortnight on a Thursday at 10.30am. It next meets on September 5.