A WAR of words has broken out between councillors and brewers Greene King over the colour scheme of a town pub.A bright blue colour currently adorns the ground floor windows and doors of The Grapes, a Grade 11 listed pub in Bury St Edmunds.

A WAR of words has broken out between councillors and brewers Greene King over the colour scheme of a town pub.

A bright blue colour currently adorns the ground floor windows and doors of The Grapes, a Grade 11 listed pub in Bury St Edmunds.

But the vivid colour scheme has caused uproar among members of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, who have recommended serving an enforcement notice on the owners forcing them to tone things down.

Mike Ames, whose Abbeygate ward covers the pub, said: "It is completely out of keeping with a building in the conservation area.

"Certain colours are acceptable and permissible in a conservation area, but not that particular colour.

"You just can't come into a town like Bury St Edmunds and have a total disregard for its ambience and this is what has happened.

"Before the pub was nice and traditional but now it is just loud and looks like a semi-nightclub."

A spokesman for the council said: "It is the opinion of the officers that the alterations carried out materially affect the character and appearance of the listed building.

"The colour chosen is unsympathetic and inappropriate for a building of this age, design and character.

"The overall effect compromises the simple and elegant detailing of a classically influenced building and is discordant in the street scene within the conservation area and historic core of the town."

But bosses at Greene King, the owners of the Grade II listed building, have pledged to appeal against the enforcement notice.

A spokesman for the brewery said: "We will be submitting an appeal against the enforcement notice and we would then respect the decision of the appeal.

"We feel the blue complements the grey brick very well, makes the building attractive and lifts the appeal of the conservation area in the town centre."

The pub, on the junction of Brentgovel Street and St Andrews Street North, is within the town's historic core.

If Greene King appeal against the enforcement notice, the case would go to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister who would appoint an inspector to hold a public inquiry or local hearing.

The fight mirrors the case of Clare woman Janice Daines, whose infamous lilac house caused shockwaves throughout the community until she was forced to paint it a unique shade of Suffolk pink.