A boutique owner's dream has been shattered by the news she will have to tear out the round window from the front of her shop.

Ali Mughal ruffled the feathers of established North Laine residents by changing the square window to a round one.

After a ten-month battle to keep the perspex porthole in her designer clothes boutique, Acacia, Mrs Mughal found out yesterday her appeal against a council order to rip it out was turned down by the Planning Inspectorate.

She now has six months to get rid of the design at the Gloucester Road site.

The 38-year-old fears the decision could destroy her business.

She said: "It cost £2,000 to put in. It will cost at least that to replace it, plus the legal fees I've had for the appeal. This isn't money I have in the bank.

"Whether I can afford to do it and carry on will depend on how sales go over the summer.

"Opening my shop here a year ago was the realisation of a dream. It don't know what will happen now."

But Mrs Mughal has vowed to fight on.

She said: "I've got no intention of putting in a traditional Victorian shop-front. I'd sooner start wearing long skirts and little bonnets - and that's not going to happen.

"We're not living in a museum. It's a 21st Century, vibrant, ever-evolving part of the city."

Mrs Mughal opened the boutique last August after putting in a circular, convex window.

She did not get planning permission first and a retrospective application was turned down by Brighton and Hove City Council in January after complaints from the North Laine Community Association (NLCA). Her appeal to the Planning Inspectorate was heard last month.

Fellow traders in the trendy Brighton district, renowned for its weird and wonderful shopfronts, were shocked by the decision.

Michelle Learmonth, who runs retro furniture and design shop In My Room in Gloucester Road, said: "It's an outrage. There's not a single person we know who has seen it and not liked it.

"We pay very high business rates to be in this area. The council is happy to complain about the shape of a window but we don't see anything else done. The streets are hardly ever cleaned."

But Bob Legendre, of Brighton Architectural Salvage in Gloucester Road, who spent £10,000 restoring his traditional shopfront, thinks the council is right.

He said: "There's been so much damage done in other areas, like Western Road, which has lost virtually all original features. I think it's a nice design but the North Laine is a conservation area for a reason and the planning laws are here for a reason."

Maureen Brand, former secretary of the NCLA, said: "It appears the inspector agrees this is an inappropriate amendment to the building."

A council spokesman said: "We were responding to a number of complaints from the North Laine Community Association. We look forward to discussing alternative designs with Mrs Mughal."

Thursday August 05, 2004