A pub landlord has been ordered to repaint his boozer after his local council ruled its “poppy red” features breached “conservation area guidelines”.
James Elliot, a former army veteran, became landlord at the Jolly Potters in Stoke-on-Trent around three months ago and invested more than £15,000 on renovations to turn it into a “community, family-friendly pub”. The revamp involved painting the windowsills and door frame of the pub in a “poppy red” colour, a nod to his military background. On top of that, he also arranged for an artist to paint a Stoke City Football Club mural on the wall of the beer garden and a Stoke City crest on one of the outer walls of the pub.
But now Mr Elliot has claimed that Labour-run Stoke-on-Trent City Council has threatened enforcement action unless the pub’s decor is toned down. The council says this is because the pub is located within the Hartshill Conservation Area.
The landlord says he must instead choose from a list of “British Standard References for paint”, which includes cream, ivory, pale grey, soft white, and pink.
He told GB News: “It has cost me over £15,000 to do stuff to bring the pub back to life. I don’t know if it is my army-head, but it just seems a lack of common sense – it sits next to a bed shop that has red fences and I’m next to a Tesco and Esso petrol station.”
To make matters worse, Mr Elliott claims the council order has come following a solitary complaint.
“It just seems there are a few people locally that don’t want a pub there, and for some reason, someone has taken offence to the red,” he added.
“The one thing that got me was the green on the old signs where it says Jolly Potters – that green isn’t in the conservation area list.”
The 34-year-old said he feels “betrayed” by the order. He added: “My thing is now I’m trying to build an empire, but the local council have no interest in us. What everyone does is we leave the area, we get on a train and we go to Liverpool or Birmingham – no wonder Stoke-on-Trent is like a ghost town, but then they are trying to kill us over a can of paint.”
Mr Elliot has been forced to hire a decorator to paint the pub cream and grey. “It is going to look massively depressing,” the army veteran commented.
“I have got some green banners that advertise ‘live sports here, serving drinks’ and I’ve even got to take those down.”
Daily Express has contacted Stoke-on-Trent City Council for comment.