Tea room sign has harmful impact - inspector

The owners of The Old York Tea Room have fought to keep the hand-painted sign on their building

The owners of tea room have lost their appeal to keep a hand-painted sign above the front window.

The Old York Tea Room, in York, was previously refused planning permission for the lettering and a teapot image on the front of the Grade 1 listed property.

However, after lodging an appeal against the decision a Planning Inspectorate report deemed the sign to have a "harmful impact" on the special interest of the building and ordered it be removed.

Owner Tony Vickers said he was "very disappointed" with the decision but would comply with the ruling.

Inspector Susan Ashworth visited the tea room in Goodramgate on 21 August, in response to the appeal.

Her report, published on Monday, found the teapot image to be "playful" and the lettering to be "traditional" but criticised their scale for "dominating" the shopfront.

"As such it detracts and distracts from the simple architectural form, character and appearance of the building," she said.

"It therefore has a harmful impact on the special interest of the listed building."

The inspector said accepting the sign would set an "undesirable precedent"

Ms Ashworth noted there had been two other unauthorised signs on Lady Row, which dates back to 1316.

One included a sign by Happy Valley Chinese restaurant, which had now been removed.

The inspector said while all proposals were treated on their merits accepting the sign would set an "undesirable precedent" for further works to cumulatively cause "very significant harm".

Traders in the row had previously argued the signs were important to draw in customers and boost trade.

However, Ms Ashworth said: "Given the popularity of the café, I am unconvinced that alternative signage would have a detrimental effect on its viability."

The tea room and other businesses in Lady Row have attracted lots of local support regarding their signs

Mr Vickers, who runs the tea room with his partner Thomas, shared the Planning Inspectorate decision on social media.

"We will remove the sign with the same love and attention we had for the building when it was applied," he said.

"We have been given four months to complete the work."

The cafe had attracted "overwhelming" support from customers and passers-by for the sign.

In April, locals headed to the street carrying placards reading "leave the lovely, historically-correct signage alone" to show their solidarity with the eateries in Lady Row.

The tea room owners urged anyone who wanted to take a photo of the façade to "do it soon".

"We are both very disappointed by the decision and it could not have come at a worse time," they added.

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