Eastern Europeans are looking to return to Sussex only months after leaving for their homeland.

Poles, Latvians and others from the former Soviet block are asking for their old jobs back after walking out when the economy in Britain turned sour.

The return comes because the downturn has spread across the continent, dragging the relatively new countries of the European Union into the crisis.

It had been thought until now that those who had moved to England following accession in 2004 were returning home in droves.

The revelation that many are now eyeing a comeback emerged in a report by the South East England Development Agency (Seeda) investigating the state of the region’s economy.

It reads: “Anectdotal evidence shows that many farmers are seeing migrant workers return home to eastern Europe, although evidence from West Sussex suggests that some of these migrants are now applying to return to the UK as the economies of their home countries feel the effects of the downturn.”

David Moore, managing director of Langmead Farm, which employs around 400 European migrants each year in Chichester, said: “We have seen an increase in people who want to come back for next year because of issues in their own economies.”

But he added that the strong euro may lead to some choosing not to come as wages in sterling would not be worth as much as they received before.

A Seeda spokesman said: “There does appear to be an increase in the number of applications to agriculutural and horticultural businesses in West Sussex.

“At first there was a return of migrants to their country of origin but as the economic crisis began to hit there we are now seeing an increase in the number of workers who want to come back.”

However, Polish Magdalena Bobbette, who runs the Sami Swoi café in Boundary Road, Hove, has not seen a return of her compatriots.

She said: “Business is still good but a lot of Polish people are going back home for Christmas and not coming back.”

After Poland and other eastern European countries joined the European Union, making it easier for workers to come to the UK, a wave of Polish shops, cafés and bars opened in Brighton and Hove.

Catholic churches had to start providing extra services to accommodate new parishioners.

The same happened elsewhere in Sussex, notably in Bognor and Eastbourne.

Chris Gaine, a professor of social sciences at University of Chichester, has worked extensively on the subject of immigration to West Sussex.

He has found that the agricultural industry, especially lettuce growing and packaging in Bognor and Littlehampton, has grown rapidly in recent years because of cheap labour from the new arrivals.