Barber shop owner defends sign after bizarre row over its brighteness
The owner of a new Kurdish barber shop on Lochgilphead’s front street has defended his illuminated sign - after community councillors claimed it is “too bright”.
Adel Syed opened Top Cup at 29 Lochnell Street on Thursday December 5.
At Lochgilphead Community Council’s meeting on Monday December 9, secretary Malcolm Sinclair said he had reported the illuminated “Top Cut” sign to James Lafferty, the Lochgilphead Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) project officer.
Mr Sinclair wrote in an email to Mr Lafferty: “I suspect I will not be the first to point out not an appropriate feature for our conservation area.”
In his response, Mr Lafferty said he had forwarded the information to planning services and wrote: “It is good to see a vacant unit coming back into use and a new business opening. That being said the illumination is over-the-top.”
Speaking at Monday’s meeting, Mr Sinclair said: “It’s really bright.”
Chairman Andy Butin agreed. He said: “It needs to be taken down. This is right in the middle of a conservation zone. I have had comments about it from members of the public as well.
“Good luck to them, let them get on with it, but it is a bright light that is there in the conservation area and that is something that we will keep pursuing.”
Top Cut owner Adel Syed with the dimmed sign. Photograph: Rita Campbell
On Tuesday, Mr Syed said he had received no complaints from members of the public regarding the lighting or from the tenant of the flat above the shop.
He said: “It’s definitely not too bright. People are happy to see a business opening and filling an empty shop. Business has been steady.
“Our partners own the Top Cuts in Oban and Fort William and our Lochgilphead customers are happy they no longer have to drive to Oban for a haircut.”
He added that the illumination of the sign is dimmed during closing hours.
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: "While we encourage and support new businesses to open in our town centres, planning procedures need to be adhered to and we are looking into the signage that has been erected."
There is another barber shop on Lochgilphead’s front street, but appointments are often booked up a month in advance, it was said at the community council meeting.
Top Cut provides a walk in service and is open seven days a week.
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