Crabtree Lane resident Gill Finlayson, who suffers from coulrophobia (a fear of clowns), snapped a photograph of the purple-suited figure on her mobile phone.

Gill, who is aged in her 50s, said: "I go into Asda perhaps every other day and it was quite the topic of discussion when I went in yesterday. I spoke to a few people and a neighbour who said the clown was selling tickets for the circus and that they had bought tickets.

"But a girl on the till said 'I'm not going outside til he's gone'. I thought, if it was my circus, I'd have an acrobat outside or a ring master or something - not a clown. If he'd have walked towards me I'd have ran, seeing a rogue clown wandering around in the freezing cold in his purple suit. It was horrendous. And being near the children's playground - if I was a small child I'd be freaked out forever.

"Other people were laughing and no one was running away screaming in horror. I just thought it was a little bit indelicate after everything with the killer clowns last year. It was funny but at the same time very scary."

The Charles Chipperfield Circus has set up camp at the nearby Recreation Ground, with performances running twice daily throughout this week.

A spokesman for Charles Chipperfield Circus has confirmed a clown was handing out leaflets in the vacinity on Tuesday.

They said: "Our clown would have been in the area around Asda yesterday, but he's the loveliest man I've ever met. We always get permission from the council before we come into town as well to make sure we're not causing any trouble. Do apologise on our behalf if anyone was scared by him though."

For more information about this week's performances, visit charleschipperfieldcircus.co.uk.