A lick of paint for the Kings Head…

… but is it a winter-warming tangerine dream or a fake tan nightmare?

At the end of last week I posted (with a little help from The Wherryman’s Web) about the new look the Kings Head was going for after covering up the enormous St George’s flag. Well, I have a little update for you… pictures and everything.

This morning, as I wandered through snowy Loddon, something stood out from the white dusting that lay over the village…

It’s quite… spectacular isn’t it.

Now I don’t know the story behind these changes of colour and therefore I can only speculate. I assume that someone wasn’t happy with the enormous red cross on the side of the building whilst the owners of the pub, I imagine, were rather fond of it. If this is the case, I suppose the thought process would’ve gone something like this…

“Apparently the cross is too garish… it needs to be replaced with something more subtle. Subtle isn’t that exciting… we don’t want to lose all our character… ORANGE! Now that’s the colour for us.”

Obviously this is just how things might have happened. And, if this is somewhat near the truth, I sympathise a little. Why not make your sure your business still stands out? Of course there is a fine line between a paint job that “stands out” and a paint job that “just doesn’t fit in with the surroundings” though.

Maybe there doesn’t need to be this much fuss about a lick of paint, after all it is just the colour of a building. But to some people it is kind of a big deal… after a quick Google of “shop paint job” this piece about a store in Edinburgh popped up. In this case the shopkeeper allegedly painted the place lime green by accident. But city planners weren’t pleased. Now I’m not familiar with the laws surrounding what you can and cannot put on the front of a public building but it does beg the question… at what point does a shop’s image become a matter of public outcry?

I’m drifting off topic. To return to the Kings Head, as I’ve already said I am only speculating on the context surrounding the colour change. Obviously the owners themselves could have simply decided enough was enough for the St George’s flag. Possibly orange is a favourite colour of theirs. Maybe, as in the case of the Edinburgh store owner, the shade just didn’t quite match the colour chart. Perhaps this is just begging for a spot of investigative journalism (or good ol’ local knowledge) to really get us to the heart of the matter.

All of these questions are somewhat irrelevant though. What really matters, and what I’m really intrigued about, is what do the people of Loddon think?

Is it too much? Is it simply fine? Is it any of our business? Did we prefer the huge red cross? Does it make you want to pay the pub a visit or does it make you want to turn and walk the other way??

I’ll leave you with these pictures of the Kings Head’s new colour and you can decide for yourself…


It is also worth pointing out that the colour change gets people talking (me being a prime example here!). So surely the real winners here are the Kings Head after all. Maybe that has been the plan all along..

As for me? The more I look at the pictures the more I warm to the new look. I have always been a fan of the colour orange though…

What do you think?? Use the comments box below or have your say on The Loddon Eye Facebook page.