A DEVON beauty spot where time has stood still for a decade is about to run like clockwork again.

The ornamental clock at Old Maids Perch on Torquay seafront has been stopped at twenty-five-past-six for at least 10 years.

Now there is a chance it could be telling the right time again soon.

Old Maids Perch got its name in Victorian times, and the story goes that it was a place where elderly ladies would gather to admire the view across the bay.

Since 2014 it has been used as an outdoor seating area for the nearby Bistrot Pierre restaurant.

Nobody quite knows exactly when the clock stopped, but Google Street View photographs dating back to April 2015 all show it locked in the same 6.25 position.

Torbay councillor Steve Darling (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe), who is also the bay’s MP, asked about the clock during a recent meeting of the full council.

He asked when the stopped clocks at Old Maids Perch, Torquay Town Hall and St John’s Parish Church in Paignton would be started again.

The town hall clock has been reading midday (or midnight) for several years, while the church clock tells different times depending which of its faces you look at.

Cllr Adam Billings (Con, Churston with Galmpton) said the clocks were important, but the cost of putting them right was high.

He said the council had spoken to expert horologists with experience of working on prestigious clocks around the country.

In the last year, as part of the Torquay harbourside revamp, the clock in the Mallock Tower has been fixed.

But, he said, the projected cost of repairing and refurbishing the remaining clocks was ‘significant’ and could be as much as £170,000.

“This cost would represent a significant proportion of the council’s repairs and maintenance budget in any given year,” he said. “Therefore, the repairs have been prioritised.”

Cllr Billings said work would start at Old Maids Perch at some point in the autumn.

“Work on the remaining clocks will be scheduled when budgets permit or alternative funding is identified,” he added.