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An "irritating" alarm in a disused shop which had been ringing for five days has been silenced.

The siren at the former Poundstretcher store in Lowestoft had been annoying locals since Friday, but no-one could find the key to the building.

It took two locksmiths with an angle grinder to access the premises to switch it off.

William Belton, from the nearby North Lowestoft United Reformed Church, said it was "better late than never".

It is not known why the alarm started to sound as the building, on the junction of London Road North and Milton Road East, has been empty for two years.

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The estate agents Steel and Co said they had "come to a bit of a stalemate" because nobody knew who had the keys, and called in the locksmiths.

Mr Belton, the treasurer at the church over the road from the shop, said the alarm had been "irritating" and he was glad it had stopped.

He said it was difficult to "know what to do in such a situation".