The owners of a music venue have been threatened with a £20,000 fine and even jail – after painting the exterior walls of their historically significant pub yellow.
Matthanee Nilavongse and Richard Walker run the Golden Lion pub, a Grade II-listed building in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.
They say they painted the previously white walls yellow to help brighten up the town ahead of the planned Tour de Yorkshire cycling race – which has now been postponed.
Matthanee Nilavongse, pictured outside the Golden Lion pub in Todmorden, West Yorkshire has been warned she faces a £20,000 fine and three months in jail after she and her business partner Richard Walker painted the Grade II pub bright yellow
But they have been sent a letter from Calderdale Council threatening them with a £20,000 fine and three-month jail term.
The pair took ownership of the Fielden Square venue in 2015 and have since transformed a previously run-down building into a thriving live music venue and community space.
The venue has hosted musical acts including Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and Huey Morgan of the Fun Loving Criminal.
It also provides a meeting place for everything from UFO clubs to art classes.
The Golden Lion also provides free events for local people and has been of a pillar of community support during the recent flooding and ongoing coronavirus pandemic, providing free food and drink to residents in need.
But Ms Nilavongse, known locally as Gig, was shocked to receive a letter from Calderdale Council threatening a fine and imprisonment.
Ms Nilavongse said: ‘A letter arrived on April 2, written on April 1, which came while the painting was still in progress.
‘We started painting on March 1 as part of the efforts from other businesses in the area to brighten Todmorden up for the Tour de Yorkshire in the traditional cycling colour of yellow.
‘But we obviously had a lot of rain and wind throughout March which made it very difficult for us to get it finished.
The publicans decided to change the colour of the historic pub ahead of this summer’s now-cancelled Tour de Yorkshire cycle race. However, they claim they were unaware they needed prior permission to change the colour of the historic building
‘The letter we received told us that we were breaching the law, and that we could end up with a £20,000 fine or six months in jail. This was a real shock and we stopped painting straight away.
‘We hadn’t received any correspondence from the council before this, and we actually had hoped that they might be in touch about coronavirus and what they could do to help businesses like ours.
‘So, we felt a little sad to receive this, and disappointed, as we’re an organisation that contributes a lot to the town.’
Ms Nilavongse has since written a letter to the council’s planning department to help resolve the situation.
Ms Nilavongse said: ‘It was a real shock to read about potentially going to jail, so I sent a polite letter to the planning permissions people, explaining that we’d perhaps misunderstood the rules, but that we were just trying to brighten up the town.
‘We didn’t know that we weren’t allowed to do this, but we have explained that we’d be happy to compromise and find a solution.
‘If we have to change it back to white then we’re happy to talk about a deadline for doing this, although we’d also love to discuss producing a design that’s in support of the NHS.’
Ms Nilavongse said the pub had received an outpouring of support locally and expects around 3,000 people to sign a petition calling for the building to remain in its new colour.
Ms Nilavongse said: ‘There are 15,000 people in Todmorden, so it’s a fifth of the population, and hopefully the council will listen.
‘I understand that we are a listed building, but the building has in fact been orange and pink in the past.
‘We also understand that we are based in a conservation area, so there is a bit of confusion at the moment, but I’m hopeful we can cut through that.’
Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and resources, Cllr Jane Scullion (Lab), said: ‘After receiving a complaint about work carried out to the Golden Lion in Todmorden, we wrote to the owners of this Grade II-listed building.
‘We have a duty to investigate alleged breaches of planning control and works to listed buildings are a particular concern to us.
‘We understand the contribution that this venue makes to the cultural and economic life of Todmorden and we would like to work with the owners to achieve a mutually agreeable solution.’