Seasonal variation Goole divided on identity of its salt and pepper towers

It's the kitchen table dispute that has shaken the port town of Goole. For almost 100 years the "salt and pepper pots" - a pair of water towers - have been much-loved landmarks standing proudly in this corner of east Yorkshire

- Helen Pidd

But a debate has ignited after the local historical society announced plans to immortalise them in a cruet set. The burning question at the heart of the row is this: which of Goole's non-identical twin towers is the salt, and which the pepper?

Opinion is divided in the town. Charis Scott-Holm, 35, said: "The brick one is pepper and the white one is salt. It has to be the colour match. It's insane to think it would be the other way round."

But Margaret Hicks-Clarke, the chair of the Goole Civic Society, disagrees. "I think the brick one is salt and the white one is pepper, but other members believe it's the other way round," she said. "We're quite evenly divided, but there seems to be a generational split. We've had a lot of feedback and younger people say the white one looks like these salt shakers you get in the chip shops and the brick one is like a pepper grinder."