Quaint historic West Midlands town pedestrian area painted overpowering bright yellow - costing taxpayers £42k

Residents have blasted council bosses for transforming part of an historic market town into a "custard corner" after it was painted bright yellow.

Warwickshire County Council spent £42,000 on repainting the public space in picturesque Kenilworth in a bid to "renew and refresh" the area.

But many people have been left scratching their heads at the colour choice which has been described as "vile", "nauseating" and "overpowering”.

The pedestrian area along Station Road has since become known locally as Custard Corner.  

Residents have criticised the cash-strapped council for wasting thousands of pounds of taxpayers' cash on painting a "gigantic double yellow line". 

Mum-of-one Georgina Tibbits, 69, a retired pastels artist, said: “It’s not appropriate for here, it’s a little bit overpowering. If you’ve ever done colour theory, yellow is supposed to cheer you up. I don’t know if that was supposed to be the idea behind it but I find it jarring, it’s not relaxing is it? It looks the same as double yellow line paint, maybe that’s it, they’d only got this paint in the warehouse.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever sat here. It won’t discourage me to sit here, but I don’t like it. The fact that there’s two trees makes me absolutely happy. Kenilworth is always fantastic for floral displays. So they get most things right, but this isn’t one of them.”

Local Jacqui Mexson, 74, said: “I don’t like it, it’s custard. I love custard, just not on the floor. 

“They had benches and big wooden planters, that’s what you needed. An ordinary floor, an ordinary grey would’ve been fine. It’s very out of place. It just doesn’t look tidy, it looks as if someone has just got a cheap tin of paint and said let's put some colour on it."

Niall Halfpenny, 32, added: "It's become a bit of a local joke and lots of people just call it the custard corner now. It's pretty vile isn't it, just looks like a gigantic double yellow line to me. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea because it was clearly a waste of money."

Benjamin Elks, grassroots development officer at the Taxpayers Alliance, said: "Taxpayers will be left wondering why £42,000 was spent turning a high street into custard corner. This kind of spending does nothing for local services and everything for council PR. Councils should be focused on fixing potholes and emptying bins, not splashing cash on bizarre paint jobs.”

The road was shut off to motorists permanently during the pandemic, and reopened as a pedestrianised area in 2023. 

Another resident Steve Penny, 62, said the new pedestrian zone has interfered with his cycle routes and described the colour as ‘nauseating’.

He said: “It’s pretty nauseating. I hate it.

"I see no sense in closing a perfectly good road, roads are there for a reason. It means I can no longer cycle into town directly, I now have to go out of my way to get into town as there's no clear cycle route.

“Disregarding the idea that it’s a stupid idea in the first place, I mean the colour shows the dirt really badly. Choosing a darker colour would have been more sensible. It’s not very convivial for a conversation. Clearly someone is not capable of joined-up thinking.”

Dave Roberts, 73, tried to remain positive and said the rest of the new features were a welcome bonus and made up for the poor colour choice.

He said: “It’s bright and it looks a bit unfinished. I think for an area like this I would’ve probably gone with grey or a black. But it does encourage me to use this space, especially now the sun’s here and you want to have a chat with friends.” 

A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council said: "The initial closure of Station Road, Kenilworth was funded by Government and implemented to assist with social distancing and encourage outdoor seating during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"When restrictions were lifted, it was identified that the area would still benefit from improvements to further enhance the space for pedestrians, so £42,000 was allocated from the Delegated Budget to renew and refresh the old road surface; the yellow surfacing was chosen as the most cost-effective option. 

"While some drop kerbs are placed for wheeled mobility users, this particular kerb is lowered to manage drainage issues around the estate agent's side door, which has a low threshold. Additional drop kerbs are in place to allow access for wheeled mobility users.

"The planned works are now complete although WCC may look to install tree guards in the coming months."

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