A tea service commemorating a town's millennium is causing a stir because two of the buildings featured never even made it into the year 2000.

Decor Art Creations issued the set of six cake plates, each bearing an image taken from East Grinstead.

A leaflet advertising the £125 set, which includes cups and saucers, says even newcomers will have reason to "love and adore" the collection.

It says the plates have been "designed especially to start the 21st Century."

But tourism bosses were left scratching their heads when they first saw the crockery.

It was only after rooting through historical records that they realised one of the buildings pictured, the Bellaggio, had been demolished 40 years ago.

Another, Charters Towers School, is now home to Sabrewatch Security Ltd.

Simon Kerr, tourist information officer in East Grinstead, said: "About three years ago the same company ran a similar line which included a picture of East Grinstead cathedral.

"We thought that was wonderful. Now they've put out a set with buildings which they say will be familiar but they're no longer there. It's a serious issue for us because they are advertising things from the town that have vanished.

"They had plenty of buildings to choose from."

A spokeswoman for the firm, based in Canterbury, Kent, said the images would be familiar to "some people".

She said: "We often find it's the elderly who like this sort of thing and like seeing things how they were."