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All Saints clothing store |
Clothes store told to strip off its outer layer!
On a street whose walls sport a giant boot, a chair and an aeroplane, rust is a facade too far
A FASHION store loved by the stars is counting the cost of installing an eye-catching shop front in Camden Town without asking the Town Hall first.
All Saints, the trendy clothing store, has been ordered to remove the rusted-metal-look cladding and goat’s skull logo which wraps its canalside store at Camden Lock. Despite Camden Town’s long history of quirky shop fronts, planning councillors ruled the two-storey was too brash.
The chain, whose clothes have been worn by actresses Emma Watson, Sienna Miller and Hollyoaks star Loui Batley, X-Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary and girl group The Saturdays, could not have acquired a better location when they opened just by the bridge at the Lock last year.
But councillors insisted at a planning meeting on last Thursday that the new look for the shop – previously the site of Fopp Records – must go.
Liberal Democrat councillor Libby Campbell, who sits on the planning committee, said: “I accept that the building was empty for a long time but this does not make a positive contribution to the street scene.”
There was a different view on the streets of Camden Town yesterday (Wednesday) where shoppers have got used to – and even attracted to – the area’s reputation for funky shop fronts.
John Lenehan, who works in Lloyd’s bar on the Ice Wharf, said: “I actually love it. It goes with the eclectic style of the High Street. It’s an industrial design in what used to be an industrial area. It looks much better than the smashed up windows [after Fopp closed].”
Simone Baretti, who works for the In Spiral Lounge opposite added: “The shop exterior doesn’t annoy me. Everything here is commercial, so this shop is just like any other.”
Sculptor Tony Diaz, who began the trend of sculptures on shopfronts in Camden Town in the 1980s, said the All Saints store might have been considered too close to the Lock for planners. “It is right on the corner and overlooking the canal, which is a historic area,” he said.
Mr Diaz added that the council is normally supportive of shop fronts and had allowed him to pin up a series of sculptures including a giant boot, an oversized leather jacket and an aeroplane.
“They realise these are landmarks and there is nothing quite like it anywhere else,” he added. “It is about the only place in the country where you can do these outside sculptures.”
Business group Camden Town Unlimited have vowed to see if some kind of compromise can be reached.
Deputy chief executive Matthew McMillan said: “We don’t want Camden Town to become like a clone town – we want the type of variety provided by All Saints. We do not want to see barriers for entry for this type of retailer. The last thing we want to see is them leave the high street.”
A spokesman for All Saints defended the design at Thursday’s planning meeting, and even claimed that it has helped wipe out anti-social behaviour in Camden Town. The company declined to comment further yesterday.
Planners voted four to two in favour of ordering its removal. |
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