(HorizonPost.com) – A popular London fish and chip shop was ordered to remove a mural featuring the Union Jack which council officials claimed was inappropriate, the UK Telegraph reported.
The Golden Chippy, located in Greenwich in southeast London, featured a mural that showed a fish holding the British flag while standing next to a package of chips beside the words, “A Great British Meal.”
Owner Chris Kanizi had the mural painted on the exterior wall in February for £250. The free publicity generated by customers who posted selfies beside the mural on social media was a boon to Golden Chippy’s business.
However, the Greenwich Council ordered Kanizi to get rid of the mural.
A spokesman for the council told the Telegraph that local ward councilors had received multiple complaints, prompting the council to open an enforcement case on the mural.
The spokesman said a team from Planning Enforcement investigated the mural and determined that it was an unauthorized advertisement for the shop and the owner was given the chance to paint over the mural before the council proceeded to a formal enforcement notice.
Kanizi agreed to paint it over.
Kanizi, 65, emigrated to the UK from northern Cyprus in 1977 with the hope of studying medicine. However, twenty years ago, he started running Golden Chippy, choosing instead to be “an expert fish surgeon.”
He said Golden Chippy, which was named London’s top-rated fish and chip restaurant in 2016 on TripAdvisor, has many international customers, some of whom have been taking selfies with the mural in the background.
He told the Telegraph that the council didn’t give him a deadline for painting over the mural, so he planned to “stick it out” for as long as he could before they gave him a date.
Kanizi’s mural isn’t the first time he has incurred the wrath of the Greenwich council.
In 2016, he was ordered to remove a 17-foot sign from above the door that featured a similar design. He fought the council for two years to keep the sign in place before finally giving in.
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