The Color Purple

The painting of a certain shop in purple is nothing other than a hot topic in Rhuthun/Ruthin. Of the over 30 comments on the original blog post, about two thirds were in favour of the purple-coloured shop front. The remainder were either neutral or left a valid though unrelated remark. Just two comments were agin the repaint in the colour purple.

One comment that particularly caught my eye was from Faerie Pirates/Hardly Nickels themselves:

"I thank everyone for their support in this matter and hope to meet with the Welsh Assembly minister Hue Lewis to see if common sense prevails…"

Hue (sic) Lewis is the *government* minister for colour : ) I am not sure whether this is a deliberate punny misprint on Faerie's behalf to use a word that means "shade" or "tint" but, of course, it's Huw Lewis not Hue Lewis, the minister for news plus housing & regeneration (or is that Huey Lewis?).

We asked visitors five questions on the purple subject, in a short survey. We feel that about a third of regular readers responded, so thank you very much. Here are the results. You'll see that the first three questions are all very close.

• Do you like the purple colour of the Faerie Pirates/Hardly Nickels frontage?

Only one person didn’t know. Of the rest, it’s almost 50:50 with a very slim majority of respondents who did not like it.

• Whether you like it or not, is the purple colour acceptable in a conservation area on a listed building such as this?

Two people didn't care and one didn't know. Otherwise, it was again 50ish:50ish with an imperceptibly larger number majority (just) in favour of those who felt purple was not acceptable.

• Should the owners be compelled to repaint into something more in keeping?

Those who felt that the proprietors should paint out purple were a gnat’s whisker ahead.

We then asked two final questions about conservation areas in general and its constituent listed buildings in particular. Here, matters were far more decisive, though there were more "don't knows".

• Would you accept a planning free-for-all in the conservation area that is St Peter's Square?

Over 80- per cent of respondents thought they could not accept such a free-for-all.

• Should rules in a conservation area be bent or broken at any cost?

Over 70 per cent of respondents felt that rules should not be broken at any cost.

Conclusions

1. The written comments themselves lent support towards the purple paint up but the survey revealed far more of a balance. A silent majority against the redecoration, perhaps.


2. For the people who responded to the survey at least, they seem to care about heritage & conservation. This was quite unequivocal.


3. This clear result was slightly surprising and contradictory given the earlier 50ish:50ish split as regards the appropriateness of the newly painted shop front on the Square.