A digital advertising screen is set to be installed on the side of a former pub in a busy area of Reading.
The former Wellington Arms in Katesgrove was closed in 2012 and was unused for years until it was turned into a Greggs in 2018.
The bakery chain itself closed there in February 2024, clearing the way for the Turkish Halal Food Centre to open shortly afterwards.
A paper sheet advertising board has been on the building since the Wellington Arms pub was open, with advertising company Wildstone Estates submitting a plan to replace it with a digital screen.
The digital screen was rejected by Reading Borough Council’s planning department last December.
That decision has since been overturned in an appeal to the government’s planning inspectorate.
Appeal planning officer Indermaur judged that there was no evidence that the ad screen would provide a distraction to road users, contrary to what council officers had argued.
They then imposed a series of conditions controlling the use of the digital advertising.
The screen will only display a series of static images, and will not feature any moving images, animation, video or full motion images of any kind.
The images should not change more frequently than once every 10 seconds, and the display must include a mechanism to default to a blank or black screen in the event of a malfunction or if the advertisement is not in use.
The decision was signed off by inspector Walker.
A report into the appeal by Reading planning officer Gary Miles states: “The Inspector considered that the large digital display would be comparable to the existing paper poster light box and would not appear out of keeping with the surrounding area.
“The decision does not sit well with the overarching aims of enhancing the character of the recently extended Christchurch Conservation Area, a significant aspect of which would be to reduce visual clutter from signage and improve the quality of the signage which remains.
“It is a matter of opinion as to whether the existing poster display is comparable and mitigates the harm of the proposed digital display, but officers believe that the appearance of the modern sign would be harmful to the character of the area.”
The report was presented to the council’s planning applications committee on September 10.
Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley), lead councillor for planning, said: “This one, yes, is disappointing but understandable at the same time, so there’s a balance.”
You can view the approved application by typing reference PL/24/1345 into the council’s planning portal, and the appeal decision using reference APP/E0345/Z/25/3359854 on the planning inspectorate website.
