Apprentice star ordered to repaint yellow shop for causing ‘harm’ to historic town

Former Apprentice candidate Marianne Rawlins has been commanded by Stamford council officers to repaint her Tudor-style building due to its ‘negative impact’.

The mother-of-two, 41, almost made it to the end of Lord Sugar’s cutthroat business reality series in 2019 and has since made a name for herself as a business owner in her local town, Lincolnshire. Although, maybe not for entirely the best reasons.

Marianne set up her new baby and toddler store, Stork of Stamford, in a Tudor building on St Mary’s Street, part of the historic conservation area, in September 2023.

Soon after she painted the front of the store (which had been empty for the past two years) a yellow shade called cherished gold from the Dulux’s heritage range alongside a black to match the existing Tudor beams to match her brand colours.

An anonymous complaint was lodged which led to both the town council and civic society raising concerns over the fresh lick of paint (worth £2,000) which she had not gained planning permission for.

After months of back and forth, the council has now ordered she repaint the storefront to avoid ‘harming’ the building which dates back to the 15th and 16th century although she plans to appeal.

She has also been asked to remove a wall mounted sign.

‘The so-called heritage colour has a negative impact,’ the civic society told planning officers, while the council agreed ‘yellow is not an acceptable colour in the conservation area’.

According to the South Kesteven District Council the Grade II listed building would have historically been rendered a ‘in a light colour on both the ground and first floor.’

Marianne, added that she has tried to find a compromise over the colour scheme with councillors including making the yellow a darker shade.

‘They then came back and said ‘actually we don’t like the black. If you look at Tudor-style buildings the majority have black so I don’t really understand.’

The business woman, who is ‘100% happy’ to compromise and hopes ‘reason prevails’, is not taking the order lying down.

According to LincsOnline, she added: ‘There is a pink shop and others in the town which are very clearly standing out from the rest which have been approved and accepted.

‘I have trouble understanding because some of those are listed buildings too. It seems they have some secret magic I don’t know about.’

It echoes her initial confusion in December, when issues first came to light, as she told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

‘I’m a little confused by it – it’s not yellow, it’s gold, but fine that’s neither here or there,’ she said at the time.

‘But I’ve seen quite a few shops in town that have yellow or gold and black and just thought that was very much in keeping.’

Elsewhere, Marianne also admitted she thought she had ‘done a great job’ considering the historic nature of the building until she received the enforcement notice last year which caught her by ‘surprise’.

She continued: ‘The last thing we want to do is detract from the character – we tried to accentuate it more than anything else.

‘It wasn’t lost on me that this building may be the one of the oldest buildings in arguably the most historically preserved town in the UK. It’s absolutely stunning.

‘You have to be careful what you do as it’s a listed building, so I was careful.’

Stamford made history in 1967 after becoming the first conservation area nationwide after a concerted campaign from the civic society.

Over the years several guidelines were drawn up to support the preservation of the area including the 1992 Stamford Shopfront Design Guide which has limited advice on painting buildings aside from recommending white or neutral colours on slender shopfronts.

Technically the maximum penalty for breaking the rules is up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Stork of Stamford, South Kesteven District Counci and Stamford Civic Society for comment.