A British pianist calmed notoriously unruly Thai monkeys by playing them classical music.

Paul Barton, 59, from London, England, pitched his instrument in a hardware shop that was overrun with aggressive primates in Lopburi province.

Before he started playing, the curious animals scrambled across the piano and jumped on the black and white keys making a racket.

However, the monkeys soon behaved themselves after Paul sat on the bench and started creating beautiful music,

He serenaded the monkeys with his version of Sebastian Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major.

A female monkey with a baby was also seen sitting near the piano appearing to be mesmerised by the timeless sounds.

Paul said he wanted to know how they will react if he played a gentle Bach piece to the animals.

He said: ''An old macaque came to say hello and offered her hand in friendship. It was unexpected and I felt moved she ever-so-gently accepted me and a piano into her home.''

Paul later moved the piano into an abandoned cinema that the monkeys have invaded.

He added: ''Many years ago, the owner had a dream to build a cinema in her hometown. It was a big success with the locals, but only for a short time as the macaques that live at the ‘Monkey Temple’ next door, took a liking to her cinema, and collectively took control of it.''

Lopburi has become known for its surging population of wild monkeys that run rampant through the town centre terrorising locals by stealing food, attacking cars and climbing over homes.

The monkeys used to inhabit a nearby temple but some were drawn into the abandoned cinema because it is spacious which lets them move around better.

The cinema's owner tried to evacuate the monkeys but they were determined to take over the place so she eventually abandoned it and allowed the monkeys to live there.

In March this year, rival monkey gangs were seen fighting over pieces of food because the coronavirus pandemic decimated their sources of free food from tourists.

Since then, they were given sugary snacks and junk food by locals but the diet has made them breed faster and many have become violent.

Officials were left struggling to cope with the soaring monkey population and have started mass sterilization projects.

Supakarn Kaewchot, a government veterinarian, said: ''They're so used to having tourists feed them and the city provides no space for them to fend for themselves.

''With the tourists gone, they've been more aggressive, fighting humans for food to survive. They're invading buildings and forcing locals to flee their homes.''