Garish shop frontage in picturesque Yorkshire village refused permission

The small grocery store in Queensbury, West Yorkshire, has an alcohol-themed purple frontage, which lights up with flashing fluorescent lights during the evening.

The store sits in a row of quaint 100-year-old york stone terraces on the village’s high street, between a dentist practice and a barber.

Prince Sabharwal, who owns “Queens Bury Mini Market”, was met with a raft of objections after he submitted retrospective planning permission for the shop.

One angry local said that the store would be “better suited to an alternative location such as Las Vegas or Blackpool” than the former mill village, near the hills that inspired author Emily Brontë.

Another resident complained: “This is not what the village wants.”

A further resident added: “The changes are detrimental to the aesthetics of the area and would not be allowed in other town streets in the district, so shouldn’t be here.”

Others pointed out that the owner had spelled the name of the village on the shop’s signboard incorrectly by separating the words “Queens” and “Bury”.

While a fifth person fumed: “This change ruins the heritage character of Queensbury’s Conservation area and does not recognise the history or the hard work that has been put into maintaining Queensbury’s heritage past, and should be returned to its former appearance.”

Conservation Officer Jon Ackroyd refused to grant permission for the frontage – which is in the village’s “core conservation area” – after describing it as “wholly inappropriate”.

Planning officer Jacob Muff agreed, describing the shopfront as “wholly out of place” on the high street and said the illumination from the LED lights was “excessive”.