Toffs-R-Us

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'Too posh' Lymington rejects 99p shop’s 'gaudy' sign

Last Updated: 4:43PM BST 31/08/2009

The owners of a 99p shop in Lymington, the affluent Hampshire town once said to be “too posh” for an Argos store, have been ordered to remove their sign by a council because the display is “too gaudy”.

 

SOLENT

Lymington: when the store opened last month, staff gave away canapes and glasses of champagne, and played music by Beethoven in an effort to win over local residents.

The family-run bargain store, founded by Nadir Lalani, has been told the sign is “not sympathetic” to the traditions of the town's Georgian High Street.

 

The sign, which includes the 99p Stores logo and the slogan 'quality products under a pound', can be seen on the company’s shopfronts elsewhere in Britain.

 

The sign was described as “inappropriate and extremely gaudy” by a local councillor, Edward Jearrad, at a recent meeting of Lymington and Pennington Town Council.

 

Mr Jearrad welcomed the shop, which recently opened in the town, but said the sign was out of keeping with the High Street.

 

The company has been told by council officials that it did not submit a planning application, and it has been given four weeks to suggest a replacement.

 

Chris Elliott, head of planning at New Forest District Council, said it was “extremely unlikely” the company would obtain retrospective planning permission.

 

He said: "Our judgement is that the sign is pretty awful and we will give them a brief opportunity to voluntarily remove it before we begin prosecution proceedings.

 

"The company will not be invited to submit a planning application for its retention because we do not believe that will be successful."

 

A spokesman for the store said: "In our eagerness to open up and offer value to the shoppers of Lymington we adopted our standard signage which is in place across the UK.

 

"At the same time we correctly applied for retrospective planning permission. Now the planners have told us this signage is not 'sympathetic' to the traditions of this particular part of the town centre.

 

“We have been given up to 28 days to come up with a satisfactory conclusion, which we are very sure we will."

 

When the store opened last month, staff gave away canapes and glasses of champagne, and played music by Beethoven in an effort to win over local residents.

 

Three years ago, residents campaigned against an Argos store amid fears it would “lower the tone” of the town.

 

 

 

From the Torygraph.

Must be nice to have nowt better to worry about

[Park Life 71]

Disgrace.

[Geordiejihad 0]

Thats Sheelds Rurd : )

[Geordiejihad 0]

Those fuckers need a proppa shop , like Greenhalls(?) on Wallsend high st - bears the legend "Shop here , and have more left over for beer n tabs ! " : )

[The Fish 11080]

Seems they were right about Argos....