Fundraisers were left in a state of disbelief after being ordered to remove banners promoting their efforts.

The Royal Oak, in Scotby, has been hosting annual events for the past 12 years to raise money for the Eden Valley Hospice and has recently placed banners on its front fence to advertise the raft of events taking place.

But landlord Ian Coulthard said he was shocked to learn that a complaint had been lodged with Carlisle City Council, stating that the banners - which are around eight feet in length - were unsightly.

Two were hung up on the fence - one bearing the name of sponsors Appletons of Carlisle and Carwhinley Cars - and the other promoting the charity golf day at Carlisle Golf Course, which was held earlier this month.

But in a stand of defiance, the pub has decided to keep the banners in place.

“My wife, Maria, was leaving the pub and saw someone outside taking photos,” he told the News & Star. “He told her that he was from the council and that a complaint had been made by the parish council “

Mr Coulthard said that in previous years, no complaints have ever been made about the banners hanging outside the pub. “Last year we had one up for Lloyd BMW, because they were sponsoring the golf day, and another promoting the golf day itself,” he said.

“No-one had any problems with them.”

He added that the pub was told it must apply for planning permission if it wanted to hang banners outside.


Ian Coulthard “You see pubs all over with banners outside saying ‘Sky Sports here’ or ‘BT here’ and I doubt they’ve got planning permission,” he said.

“We had planned to take them down after the golf day but now they’re going to stay there for a bit longer.”

Maria added: “We’re having a quiz night on October 8 and then we’ll be inviting Eden Valley Hospice down for a cheque presentation after that. The banners are still there and they will be until we’ve presented the cheque.

“The person that photographed them said a complaint was made from the parish council but we’ve asked ourselves and it wasn’t them, we don’t know who it was.”

Sue Appleton, of Appletons, said she was in left in “disbelief” when she was made aware a complaint had been registered.

“Apparently someone had said they were unsightly,” she said. “This is something that’s done every year and last year it raised £10,000 for Eden Valley Hospice. “Yes it’s a bit of advertising for local businesses but the banners also help to draw people’s attention to the event.

“It’s not just us that are taking part, for example we had the Gleneagles hotel offer a free round of golf as an auction prize.”

A city council spokesperson said: “Following a complaint we asked the Royal Oak to remove three printed banners from outside their property.

“Two of the banners were advertising local businesses and one banner promoted a local charity. The charity event associated with the banners had been held the previous week. We advised them that advertisement consent was needed if they planned to install more banners in the future.”