Supermarket giant Tesco faces legal action after antique window frames apparently went missing from its latest store.

Brighton and Hove City Council is considering issuing an enforcement notice against the company after modern windows were installed in its new Metro outlet at Palmeira Grande in Western Road, Hove.

The planning committee will be asked at a meeting today to confirm the notice and set a time limit for the original windows to be replaced.

The move could leave Tesco with a huge bill for reinstating the original brass frames.

Tesco is due to open the new Metro outlet on the ground floor of the Grade II listed building in the next few weeks.

The original frames, part of the Michael Norman Antiques showroom, should have been kept as part of the planning agreement. Instead, a standard Tesco Metro shopfront has been installed with new blue metal frames.

Conservationist Christopher Hawtree said: "Tesco appears to be raging through Hove like Attila the Hun.

"The beautiful brass windows that were part of the original antiques showroom have been ripped out and replaced with a bog-standard Tesco shopfront.

"Councillors and officers at the last planning meeting were very unhappy about what Tesco appeared to be doing and insisted that they should be put back but nothing has happened.

"We have already lost the flint wall on the old gasworks site and now it appears Tesco is again riding roughshod over both the council and the people of Hove."

Councillor Bob Carden, chairman of the planning committee, said: "What we want to see is those lovely old windows put back.

"If they have gone completely we will not be very happy."

A city council spokesman said: "The council is aware of the work that has been carried out at Palmeira Grande without the necessary consent.

"An urgent report will go before the planning committee as unauthorised works to listed buildings are taken very seriously.

"The matter is with our legal team and we will be seeking to resolve this as quickly as possible."

A Tesco spokesman said: "As far as we are aware the windows are still there and we have done nothing wrong.

"We agree there are still some issues which have to be resolved and we are speaking to the council about them."