Harborough business owner wins fight to keep image of a bikini-clad woman on his tanning salon window

A salon owner has won the fight to keep the image of a bikini-clad woman on his tanning salon window.

Malibu Tanning owner James Cole managed to come to an agreement with Harborough District Council after he was ordered to remove the image following complaints the image was ‘highly visible in a prominent location’.

The businessman agreed to remove smaller images of people in swimwear on the side windows and reduce the size of the picture, to keep the display on the Coventry Road salon.

The compromise followed a lost planning appeal, during which the inspectorate declared the display was ‘detrimental’ to the character of the surrounding area, and an online petition launched by residents who argued the image ‘brightened up the street’. The petition, started by resident Adam Hutcheson, gained over 700 signatures.

Mr Cole said the salon had had a lot of support from people in the town and described the outcome as ‘amazing’.

He added: “It’s just a woman on a beach, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t like it, look away.

“It’s been a good 12 months of this so it’ll be really nice to not be asked on a daily basis what’s going on with the lovely lady on a beach.

“We’ve had clients coming in already asking us ‘when’s it going to be changed’ and it’s actually already been changed, so I think that shows the compromise is a good one.”