Ladies and gentlemen – Elvis has leafed the building.

A topiary tribute to The King has appeared on The Dolphin pub in Dominion Road, Worthing.

The 8ft leafy lookalike was designed by the pub's landlord and Elvis fan, David Stocken, in a cheeky bid to thwart council planners.

The watering hole regularly hosts two impersonators but Worthing Borough Council has said that 13 signs and placards advertising the event “damaged the character and appearance of the building” and must be removed.

In reply David, 43, and wife Mo, put the giant performing Elvis, made from a new kind of fake topiary, up over night.

He said: “It just appeared yesterday and we have had lots of interest from customers about it, they love it.

“We have monthly Elvis nights here and they are always popular.

“We thought it would be a good way to advertise them, seeing Elvis performing on top of the pub.

“It is so frustrating that the council has asked us to remove the signs.

“We are just trying to advertise our business but they are so dictatorial.”

The council's report said that if a planning application had been made for the signs, it would have been refused and ordered their removal by the end of the month.

Mo, said the plastic Elvis is eco-friendly because it doesn’t need watering. She added: “We wanted to do something fun for our customers.

“Lots of them don't have much money at the moment and the recession is causing depression so we wanted to do something to cheer them up.”

The next Elvis night at The Dolphin is on Sunday.(April19) A spokesman from Worthing Borough Council said the 13 signs must be gone by the end of April and said the new Elvis hedge has not yet been discussed by its planners.

Here in the Argus newsroom, we've had fun thinking of other bands which would make good topiary subjects - like The Hedge from Yew2, Kate Bush and Spruce Springsteen. Can you do better? Leave your tree and shrubbery band suggestions in the comments below.