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Everyone's angry about... Brentford's Lucozade sign

Isabelle Aron
Written by
Isabelle Aron
Features Editor, Time Out London
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We unpick the issues that have got Londoners all riled up. This week, it's the mysterious disappearance of Brentford's much-loved Lucozade sign.

So what's the story?

Brentford has been cruelly robbed of one of its landmarks. Oh, you didn't know it had any? Well, it does (or did). An iconic Lucozade sign, dating back to 1953, which has been removed from the side of a building overlooking the M4 and replaced with a digital billboard.

And who's to blame?

Nobody's publicly taken responsibility yet, but back in 2013, advertising firm JC Decaux applied to Hounslow Council to replace the original with a digital reproduction. The Planning Inspectorate said that would be allowed as long as it replicated the existing sign in a modern format. But whoever changed it seems to have conveniently forgotten that stipulation, and replaced it with a massive digital screen showing all sorts of ads. The horror!

What do the locals think?

They're pretty damn pissed-off. Particularly Gary Farnan, who started a Change.org petition to get the sign restored after it mysteriously disappeared over Christmas. The leader of Hounslow Council, Steve Curran, has since said that he'll order planning officials to investigate whether rules have been breached. The petition currently has nearly 2,000 signatures and locals have also been airing their grievances in the comments, the gist of which can be summed up by Holly Newth, who wrote: 'The old sign was a piece of history. The new one is just a piece of tat!' And as we all know, tat belongs in boutiques offering 'unique gifts', not on our city's buildings.

Want more reasons to despair? Unions are planning three 24-hour tube strikes

And Chiswick residents are upset about plans for a 'monstrous' new building

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