Beauty and its beastly shade of yellow/ochre

NOW THEN

BEAUTY giant L’Occitane has appealed against a decision that could force it to repaint an “unacceptable” city centre shopfront.

The cosmetics chain angered Newcastle City Council by painting the front of the former Vodafone store in Grainger Street – which is a Grade II-listed – “daffodil yellow”.

Council planning bosses called the brightly-coloured design “unacceptable” and “harmful” to the building, which dates back to 1836, but L’Occitane En Provence went ahead with its transformation of the shop before any formal planning decision was issued.

The council rejected the application in March, but will now have to wait for the government’s planning inspectorate to rule on the company’s appeal before any enforcement action can be taken.

Issuing its decision notice on the plans, the council said: “As part of the correspondence with the agent it was stated that the proposed colour for the shopfront frame and stallriser – daffodil yellow – was considered to be unduly prominent on such an important corner building and within such a sensitive location, and so unacceptable.

“Notwithstanding that the ground floor has a modern shopfront, the council has adopted shopfront design guidelines for the adjacent Grainger Market and Clayton Street, which includes a list of appropriate shopfront colours for this area. The proposed daffodil yellow (or any other shade of yellow/ochre) is not included on the list.

“Following this, the agent confirmed that the original daffodil yellow colour was still proposed and asked for the application to be determined on this basis.”

L’Occitane said it “hopes to have an agreed design very soon” and “always works hand in hand with its landlords and local councils”.