Look of Spalding town centre business is “dog’s dinner”

A town centre business whose look has been described as a “dog’s dinner” has been allowed to keep its signage.

Sunshine Cafe and Restaurant in Bridge Street, Spalding, was forced to submit a retrospective planning application to South Holland District Council.

Planning committee members were not happy with the look of the signage, but there was little they could do.

Spalding member Pete Williams said the look of the place, which was formerly cafes Serendipity and The Maple Leaf, had gone severely downhill.

He told a meeting on Tuesday: “The two previous uses for that restaurant were far, far superior. Absolutely a credit to the town centre the way they were – this is a dog’s dinner.”

Original signage by the current occupier had been refused but the meeting heard that it had been amended to a smaller version and clutter, such as menus, had been removed from the windows.

Coun Bryan Alcock said the compromise had not gone far enough, adding: “What a thing to have in the middle of a conservation area.”

Coun Harry Drury felt it was not in keeping with the area and did not want others to follow suit.

“I would encourage anybody else that wants to put signage up in the town centre to take note of the surroundings,” he said. “If there was a legal reason why we could refuse this, I would find it.”

Planning committee chairman Coun Roger Gambba-Jones wryly wondered if it could be refused for its “awfulness”.

He told members: “The problem for us is that we don’t have any specific criteria on which to base the awfulness of the signage. As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there is an argument that there’s a lot worse than that even within the conservation area.

“So you have to pick your fights and think about the cost to the taxpayer and the cost to the small business to some extent.”

He felt the look was a shame considering the lengths neighbouring business Spalding News had gone to when its shop front was refurbished.

The application was passed 10-3 on a vote.