O’Neill’s refurb plans shut down by council as 'clutter'

O’Neill’s, beside Watford Junction in Station Road, applied to the borough council in August for listed-building and advertising consent.

It sought permission to install new signs, lighting, and other advertising as part of a wider upgrade, but this was formally refused yesterday (October 6).

A decision notice said: “By virtue of the amount of advertising signs proposed, the proposals would appear dominant and create visual clutter in the street-scene and would be unduly harmful to the visual amenity of the area and the listed building.”

The building dates back to 1860 and was known as The Flag Hotel before becoming O’Neill’s. It has a Tripadvisor rating of 4.2 from 245 reviews.

Inside O’Neill’s Watford (Image: Tripadvisor)

Planning officers said “the building was built as, and continues to be, a landmark; additional signage is not required to make it stand out”.

They added: “It is considered that the building is in use, in a prominent location, benefiting from a variety of signs and therefore the proposed signage is not justified, and they do not outweigh the harm to the significance of the building identified.

“Therefore the application should be refused.”

O’Neill’s had argued that the new design would boost the venue’s visibility, while signage had been designed to work with the building.

It added that this would have a limited impact on the heritage asset.