Uproar over village pub sign showing Queen in muscle-vest, ‘Phil’ tattoo

LONDON - A sign on the door of Queen’s Arms Hotel in Acomb, Northumberland, which shows the Queen in a black muscle-vest with a tattoo bearing the name ‘Phil’ on her huge forearms, has caused outrage amongst villagers.

Some have branded it ‘distasteful’ and ’sad’, while others have said it amounts to treason.

“I have to say I am personally appalled. We very much welcomed the investment in the pub, which had been run down for a number of years. However, I think the sign is very sad. Acomb does not deserve something so distasteful,” the Daily Mail quoted Chairman of Acomb parish council, Major Charles Enderby, as saying.

Acomb’s county councillor Terry Robson has called in Northumberland County Council’s planning enforcement team to investigate the sign.

“I think it is in extremely poor taste and not at all appropriate for the village hotel. It’s a very silly thing for the hotel to have done,” he said.

Resident Sheila Storey added, “It’s the talk of the village, which I suppose if what they were after. I think it’s horrendous - an absolute disgrace.”

Not all think the sign is in bad taste though.

Another Acomb villager who asked not to be named said, “Some people are saying it amounts to treason and ought to be taken down, but others think it’s a laugh.”

“The caricature is certainly not as a bad as the Queen’s Spitting Image puppet.”

David Crawford-Emery, who commissioned the sign, said the image was not based on the monarch, but his late mother who resembled the Queen.

“My mum’s name was Betty, and her husband was called Phil, which explains the tattoo. I have no idea whether the Queen has a tattoo because I have never seen her arms,” he said.

“I would not do anything to cause offence to the Queen because I am a royalist myself.” (ANI)