It’s one thing to have a controversial new shopfront just yards from your proud “Conservation Area” notices. But it’s another for people from out of town to start taking the mickey. Enter, fellow hyperlocal blog Love Loughton.
@Wansteadium Loving the new sign on the new takeaway opposite The George guys. Where does the conservation area start again? 🙂
— Love Loughton (@loveloughton) October 16, 2012
Meanwhile Wansteadium reader John posits that perhaps the sign is a tribute to 007? A Skyfall publicity stunt, perhaps?
Fellow reader Clive writes: “Subtlety clearly isn’t the look the owners of the shop are after, but that’s not to say the sign doesn’t have something to say. My initial reaction was that the grey bars looked like a shopfront shutter which had got jammed halfway down. But now it’s obvious that they are actually supposed to be the barbecue itself, with the flaming letters being the meal. I feel a bit embarrassed for not realising this until now. But then it’s perhaps easy to be dazzled.”
Clive raises a good point. Other interpretations which have a deeper appreciation of the semiotics are welcome.
who can we complain to about the sign as it is not the look Wanstead High St. is all about.
I got what it’s supposed to represent .. but the sign is double the size it needs to be. The whole of that parade needs a complementary look and feel – if only there was some sort of Smarter High Street website with great features on design that people could google…
Redbridge Council notified the owner of the new shop front at 62 Spice (now nakonthai) that he had to tear down his shopfront and return it to as it was at the time of the previous restaurant, Gotico’s but he just ignored them.
So Redbridge Council is toothless and uncaring when it comes to enforcement of its notices in conservation areas.
Actually, I really don’t find this objectionable. The shop when viewed from the other side of the road isn’t all that out of place. An extreme close up shot of just the sign as above makes it appear far more intrusive – it is not. It’s miles better than a huge yellow M – of the type found in other conservation areas too poor to avoid getting the attentions of dear old Ronnie.