Worcester council has doubled down on slapping the Beefy Boys with a fine – prompting the Hereford chain to apologise to the whole city.
Worcester City Council issued a fine to The Beefy Boys for fly-posting a Beefstock festival advert on a traffic light pole in the city centre, a violation of advertising regulations.
The council has since confirmed the company, which opened its first restaurant in Hereford in 2015, failed to obtain the necessary permissions before putting up the poster.
A council spokesman said: “Advertisement consent needs to be granted for posters to be attached to lampposts for commercial events, and that did not happen in this case.
“As a result, a £100 fixed penalty notice has been issued, as is standard practice.
“If it is paid within 14 days, the penalty will fall to £60.”
The spokesman said such posters require formal approval from the city council, and in cases involving public highways, permission must also be sought from Worcestershire County Council.
The Beefy Boys, who specialise in American-style burgers and now has restaurants in Cheltenham, Oxford, Nottingham, Shrewsbury and Bath, issued a public apology via Facebook and promised to remove the posters.
They also offered free tickets to the council as a goodwill gesture.
In their statement, the company said: “Worcester, we owe you an apology… and apparently your lampposts too.
“Unfortunately, Worcester Council have informed us that our guerrilla marketing campaign was perhaps a little too guerrilla. So, to the people of Worcester, we’re sorry.”
The poster was advertising Beefstock, a barbecue festival organised by The Beefy Boys, scheduled for August 22 and 23 in Bromyard.
The event will feature live-fire BBQ demonstrations, food vendors, live music, children’s entertainment, and a chilli-eating contest.
Fly-posting is regulated under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.
Temporary posters smaller than 0.6m² that promote short-term local events may be covered by deemed consent, but still require approval from the landowner.
Unauthorised posters can result in fixed penalty notices of £75 to £150 or, if prosecuted, fines of up to £2,500.
