TROWBRIDGE club The Beach has lost an appeal against Wiltshire Council’s decision to refuse its retrospective application for the redecoration of the venue and installation of new signage.

The club, which is located in Castle Street and run by Fever Bars, had applied for the change of the existing shops front and signage from Fever to The Beach, with the colour “adjusted to conform with the corporate branding of The Beach concept”.

However, the council refused to grant listed building consent for the changes in July last year due to the “inadequate assessment” of the heritage asset’s significance and the plans being “detrimental” to the character and appearance of the Grade II-listed building.

Nigel Blair, from Fever Bars nightclub group, appealed the decision to refuse consent at the end of last year, stating: “We feel that the refusal of our signage and colour scheme is unjust.

“As a late night operator, we have venues across the country and appreciate that we need to keep them fresh and have developed a method of re-branding our sites regularly.

“This unit in Trowbridge is a classic example. Our previous Fever scheme needed to be refreshed and it was decided to change the venue to our beach concept. As a late night operator, we need to control the environment, hence the poster presentation to the former shop fronts.

“We would like to point out that this was the case prior to this rejection of our corporate beach concept, with which the council had no issues before.”

Mr Blair explained the work, which included changing the lower walls from purple to blue and giving signage a “washed out” wood and bamboo effect, was carried out to match the company’s other beach units across the country.

He added: “The signage was retained in its previous locations and we do not understand why this scheme is unacceptable over the previous one.”

Bu the Planning Inspectorate has now dismissed the club’s appeal on the grounds that the work has “an adverse impact” on the historic significance and character of the Grade II-listed building.

While the inspector acknowledged the need to rebrand the business and that the previous purple and black colour scheme was also a significant contrast to the neighbouring buildings, she added: “There is no evidence of approval of that scheme by the council.”

Inspector Kay Sheffield concluded: “I accept that the business contributes to the viability and vitality of the town and ensures a degree of maintenance of the building. Whilst these are public benefits, there are not sufficient to outweigh the harm to the listed building already identified.”

The Beach, which was refurbished and relaunched in August 2013 from its previous incarnation as Moomoo, could now be asked by the council to remove the redecoration and signage work.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We will be reviewing what action is appropriate in the near future, but can’t say any more at this stage.”