Arts chiefs at the flagship Tate on the Tyne, Newcastle's Baltic Centre, are trying to mop up their embarrassment after it sprung a leak in its first week of opening.

Visitors to the Centre for Contemporary Arts were swamped with water from the leaking glass roof and had to dodge buckets on the ground.

Pails were placed around the foyer's tiled floor and bright yellow "slippery floor" signs were erected as rain poured in.

Security guards monitored the crowds who had to tiptoe their way around the building trying to avoid the downpour on Saturday night.

It was yet another embarrassment for the bosses. When Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell previewed the centre in the week before its official opening on July 13, a faulty fire alarm saw up to 400 artists, critics and politicians forced to leave the building.

And since the doors swung open to the public, the fault has triggered two other evacuations.

After the rain came in, one visitor said: "You can't believe they've spent all that money and have a leaky roof - it's embarrassing."

The Baltic Centre cost £46m, £33.4m coming from a National Lottery grant.

The leak angered local politicians. Newcastle Lib Dem councillor Peter Arnold said: "It's absolutely laughable that they can't get such a fundamental thing like this right.

"The centre is a big part of Tyneside Capital of Culture bid and this is what visitors are greeted with. What kind of impression does that create? If we can't get simple thing right who is going to give us extra funding for other projects?"