Tartan tat firm signs up for new legal battle

TARTAN tat tycoon Gold Brothers are in hot water again after city planners objected to an apparently innocuous new sign on one of the firm's Royal Mile stores.

The company, which owns a dozen stores across Edinburgh and Fife, put the sign up – without planning permission – as part of an overhaul of its Abercrombie Cashmere shop on the High Street.

It may not be bright, bold or tartan, but the black and white sign has made planners see red because it covers the shop's original stonework. They are asking councillors for permission to force the company to remove it.

In their report to this Wednesday's development management sub-committee, planners say the sign is "not of a traditional design".

They complain that it masks the original shop design and cornice details, and that "the masking of this detail with a bland rectangular, timber, fascia board on a historic building is inappropriate."

The report comments that the sign "has an adverse effect on the character and appearance of the listed building, the Old Town Conservation Area and the World Heritage Site".

Matt grey paint which has been used on the shop front will be allowed to stay, however, despite the fact Gold Brothers did not seek planning permission ahead of the change.

Rosemary Mann, of Edinburgh Old Town Association, said: "Shopkeepers should know that they need to apply for planning permission for signs irrespective of what the sign is. If it's a listed building, they should also have applied for listed building consent as well, because they will have drilled holes into historic stone."

Bruce Borthwick, of the Old Town Community Council, added: "Unless there's a very good reason to go ahead with an alteration to a frontage, in general we're very much in favour of retaining as much of the original frontage as possible. Whether there's virtue in putting a wooden facade over original stonework, we would suggest that perhaps they should renovate the original stonework if it is worn."

City centre councillor David Beckett also backed the planners' request to bring the sign down.

He said: "The rules are in place because we've got World Heritage status.

"It is important that if we have got the rules that we enforce them. I definitely support the planning officers. If they are breaking the rules, it does need to be enforced."

It is just the latest row to hit Gold Brothers – Malap, Surinder and Galab Singh and their nephew Dildar.

It is currently involved in a legal dispute over claims that the company is reproducing Isle of Skye tartan without permission and has also been accused of copying the Princess Diana tartan without agreement from her estate.

Gold Brothers also irritated traditional kilt-makers by stocking Chinese-made versions costing just £19.99.

A spokesman for Gold Brothers said its legal team was dealing with the planning issue and declined to comment further.