A SHOPKEEPER has agreed to listen to villagers who want his new food advertising posters removed because they claim they are ‘instrusive’ to a few residents and ‘inappropriate’ for a beautiful village.

Tony Hopkins and his wife Dee own and run Horrabridge village stores and post office under the Spar brand — but have upset neighbours and councillors, despite satisfying planning officers.

Tony, who has been running the Commercial Road store for 16 years, placed the four plastic signs on the blank wall earlier this summer when the store was refurbished in partnership with Spar. He said he is doing his best to keep the shop open amid difficult economic conditions as a community asset.

However, residents living in two cottages opposite the signs are annoyed that all they can see across the narrow road to the shop are advertisments for food.

One of the residents said she finds it hard to ignore a large colour photo of lasagne while she is cooking in her kitchen and her neighbour says the photos amount to subliminal advertising for sandwiches, coffee and croissants, because they dominate her view from her lounge.

The parish council has also got involved in the sign dispute and after lobbying by others has agreed write to the shop owners, requesting the poster be removed and if they will not do so, then to escalate their call to Dartmoor National Park Authority planners.

Cottage resident Sue Rowland said: ‘ I’ve lived here for six years and these signs are new. It’s hard to get used to large colour adverts of food, especially the giant lasagne directly opposite my kitchen which is all I can see when I’m cooking only a few feet away.

‘It’s very intrusive to me, at the very least, and on a wider scale not very fitting in a beautiful village in a national park.’

Her neighbour Kerry Lane, who has lived in the village for three years, said: ‘Giant photos of food are not what I want to see out of my lounge. It’s hard to escape the adverts and is like subliminal advertising. I like to think I’m not succumbing to it. They should at least have talked to us first. However, I’m grateful for all they they do for the village.’

The issue was raised at last week’s parish council meeting where a resident said the signs broke conservation guidelines for a national park village of unique character. Cllr Mike Huda, council chair, said the signs were out of keeping with the listed nature of the historic fabric of the village.

Tony Hopkins said: ‘I’ll consider the views of the council very carefully and think about all our options. We’ve worked hard to keep the shop viable through a recession and covid and made a big investment with Spar to keep it open for residents. The planning office said they were fine to attract passing traffic.’