Mean council bosses decide 'Buttercup' must be slaughtered (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Mean council bosses decide 'Buttercup' must be slaughtered

A Putney butcher has been asked to re-moo-ve its promotional cow from outside their shop after council bosses labelled it “obstructive and unsightly”.

Would you condemn this bovine beauty to the abattoir?

Chris Hughes and Frank Camilleri, who run Buckley’s Butchers in Lower Richmond Road, bought Buttercup last month in a bid to raise profits and the bovine beauty has already helped to put their competition out to pasture.

But the milk finally turned sour for the butchers last week when they were given a 24-hour ultimatum to remove Buttercup - because she was deemed to be damaging the area’s reputation.

The order was handed out by the council’s highways department - a decision which has been labelled udderly unfair by staff and customers.

Locals say they cannot understand what the council’s beef is.

Butchers Chris and Frank have become very protective of Buttercup

Mr Hughes said: “We had a visit from the council and they gave us 24-hours to get rid of Buttercup. But the kids love her and are always asking to have a go on her - funnily enough dogs seem to be petrified of her too.

“This whole episode has left her very afraid of being slaughtered and she’s keen to return to her herd.”

Chris Wyatt, chairman of the Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce, said: “Community spirit is vital during times like this and this reaction seems to be a little heavy-handed. If you look about three shops down the road, you will see an empty hairdressers with paper and rubbish everywhere. What is more unsightly? It looks a mess. Perhaps, the local planning team are acting like a bull in a china shop?”

A Wandsworth Council spokesman said: "Putney is an attractive, high quality-shopping district and we have a responsibility to protect this reputation from retailers that try and occupy the public highway with obstructive and unsightly merchandising.

"If we allowed shopkeepers to behave in this way our pavements would become littered with this type of attention grabbing signage - making life difficult for all pedestrians including wheelchair users, the visually impaired and people with mobility issues."

Buttercup now has to keep an eye out for lurking council workers

• Do you think Buttercup should stay? Or is the council right to make mincemeat of her? Have your say below.