A shopkeeper who painted her store bright pink to sell designer clothing for girls claims she was forced out by the local council.
Olivia Priestley, 27, said she was ‘harassed daily’ by Ilkley Parish Council and has incurred more than £15,000 of costs so far from the closure.
Chairman Stephen Butler turned up to the shop, in the West Yorkshire town, with colour cards to pressure her to re-paint the frontage, she said.
She was also hounded by locals on Facebook, who posted more than 200 comments railing against the colour.
Olivia Priestley, 27, said she was ‘harassed daily’ by Ilkley Parish Council after opening her bright pink store in the West Yorkshire town
One resident even came into the shop before she had even opened to tell her the pink front was ‘hideous and disgusting’.
She said the backlash made her feel worried and anxious and led to her being unwell.
In September, after four months, she fled the town and closed up shop, which is in a conservation area.
But she is still paying £1,400 rent and £500 per month business rates for the empty store, called Off The Stand: Couture Clothing for Little Girls.
She has also written off the £10,000 she invested in fixtures, fittings and stock, which is now sitting unsold in a warehouse.
Miss Priestly, who lives near another shop she runs in Cleckheaton, said: ‘I got harassed by the local parish council on a daily basis asking me to re-paint the shop.
‘I had to ask one official to leave the shop at one point. They were coming in and messaging me – that was constant for about two months.
‘Steve Butler came with his briefcase and his colour charts. It was pointless but he just wouldn’t leave us alone.’
She added: ‘It got to the point where I felt so uncomfortable and excluded and upset that I had to close the shop down losing all the money I had paid into it.’
‘It was like borderline harassment. He said it was my decision but he kept coming in anyway. He said it wasn’t enforceable.’
Miss Priestly set up the shop in May last year, but before it even opened locals were posting aggressive messages on Facebook.
She had been told by her landlord she could decorate the shop as she wished, and the store opposite was painted an equally striking yellow.
But as she opened a fellow business owner showed her a local Facebook page where residents had posted ‘nasty and horrible’ comments.
The shopkeeper, whose car salesman partner Tom Hunt, 26, comes from Ilkley, added: ‘You want it to stand out and to appeal to children.
‘One woman actually came into the shop right up to my face and said it was disgusting.
‘I had somebody come in the day before I opened. I thought she was going to say “welcome to the area”, but she said “what on earth made you paint it that colour”.
‘There were 200 comments on the Facebook page saying it was ghastly. They have got nothing better to do with their time, it was really nasty.
‘I put my heart and soul into the shop and the people of Ilkley objected to it because it was pink.’
She was also hounded by locals on Facebook, who posted more than 200 comments railing against the colour
There were further complaints from customers that it was ‘not fair’ that she didn’t sell anything for boys.
Miss Priestly said: ‘There’s a few people saying what do I do if my son wants to come in. It’s unnecessary – if you want to bring a boy in, bring a boy in.
‘People were saying in this day and age it should be for both. There was a men’ s suit shop next door.’
Mr Butler denied harassing her saying he had taken the colour charts round to ‘mediate’.
He said: ‘We received a lot of complaints about the colour of the shop including from the Civic Society which represents people who are concerned about keeping the Conservation Area and keeping it looking nice.
’The Parish Council have no power to do anything – I could not have served a notice on her.
‘I was just going to try and help because a lot of people had complained. I wasn’t harassing her.
‘Since our meeting in July, if anyone asked me about it I said the colour was fine.’
The town is part of the Ilkley Conservation Area, supported by the vocal Ilkley Civic Society, which also visited Miss Priestly’s shop to voice its opposition.
Only the local authority, Bradford Metropolitan and District Council, could enforce a change of colour if the shop was found to be in breach of planning rules.