A boutique owner has beat the planners by painting a round window on her shop after she was told to get rid of the real thing.

It has taken her three years and almost made her bankrupt but boutique owner Ali Hadley has managed to hang on to her round window - if only a painted version.

Ms Hadley, 39, was forced to rip out a perspex porthole from the front of her womenswear shop Acacia in Gloucester Road, Brighton, after Brighton and Hove City Council refused to grant her planning permission.

She replaced it with a traditional square window at a cost of £3,500 and commissioned Lewes artist Helen Turner to paint a mural on the side of the shop around the circular grill which covered the original window.

Planning inspectors were so impressed they employed Ms Turner to paint murals on walls in Brighton and Hove targeted by graffiti artists.

Ms Hadley said: "I just could not believe it. I half expected them to say it would have to come down but now it seems ironic. After all the business with the round window they are quite happy for me to have a painted version.

"It cost me £1,000 to have that done. The council is commissioning the artist to protect other areas of the city which have been vandalised yet my wall was one of the places which always used to get tagged by graffiti artists."

She accused the council of failing to support independent traders and said: "We are off the beaten track down here and you really need a strong identity to survive."

Monday, May 8, 2006