Pawn shop applies for 'garish' signage permission

A pawn shop has applied to keep signs described as "garish" by a civic society it installed on a listed building without permission.

The blue and yellow signs were installed on the building, on the corner of Kirkgate and Bank Street, in Bradford, in September.

The property, Pearl Assurance House, was built in 1876 and is Grade II listed.

No planning applications were submitted before the signs were installed, and Bradford Civic Society had urged the city council to investigate.

The company, Cash Generators, has applied for both retrospective advertising consent and listed building consent for the signage.

Submitted by a Mr Moore, the application includes little detail other than confirming the work was completed in early October, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In September, Bradford Civic Society warned the "garish" signs were unsympathetic to Pearl Assurance House, which was designed by acclaimed architects Lockwood and Mawson, and could do "irreparable harm".

When the British Heart Foundation opened a store in the neighbouring unit, the charity had to submit a planning application for new signage, and had to re-draw those plans after concerns the initial design did not match the building’s grandeur.

A decision on the two applications is expected before the end of the year.

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