Police followed their noses to sniff out a cannabis factory in the middle of a residential street in Southampton.

Officers were making door-to-door inquiries in Kathleen Road, Sholing, when they caught the distinctive smell of the plant and decided to search a semi-detached suburban house.

Upstairs they uncovered more than 100 potted cannabis plants in three bedrooms decked out with reflective sheeting, ultraviolet lighting and fans.

The crop had an estimated street value of £32,000.

Officers and council workers were at the house in Sholing all day yesterday clearing truckloads of equipment and bin bags full of cannabis plants from the property.

Neighbours told the Daily Echo that they thought the semi-detached home had been abandoned because curtains were always drawn and they rarely saw anybody going in or out.

It is understood that the property had recently been sold and let out.

A woman who has lived in the road for 20 years said: “That house has been empty for ages. We’ve seen people there but not for a long time. It’s a very quiet area.”

Another neighbour said: “It has been like that for a while. The curtains down, windows not open. It is a bit shocking that it’s around here on a private road.

“It’s normally quite quiet, especially along here where it’s a busy road.”

PC Sarah Taylor, from Southampton Investigating Team, said: “It was our local officers who made the discovery at the property as part of their patrols in the area.

“Not only is cultivating, possession and intent to supply class B drugs illegal, it’s also the wider risk of fire posed by cannabis factories that is extremely dangerous.

“Hampshire Constabulary is committed to creating safer communities and this is an example of the work local officers do in order to maintain this.”

In 2007 Southampton was dubbed the “cannabis capital of the south” after police uncovered almost 50 cannabis factories within a few miles of the city centre in the space of just 18 months.

A 33-year-old man from Kathleen Road, Southampton, has been charged with producing and the possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply.