Your article last week has stimulated a substantial debate and wonderfully increased our links with the local community, we have been inundated with residents popping in to tell us how much they like the building and how it has greatly improved this end of town. For this we are most grateful, in fact we still haven't received a negative comment.
However, we feel very sad that some of our neighbours are upset and angry about our blue building. It must be very difficult for them, every day looking out of their windows at something that makes them so unhappy. We would like to reassure them that the appearance of the blue facade will soften once the espalier fruit trees and climbing rose become established and when the box balls grow larger - all of which have replaced the white vans which used to dominate the space before we came.
We were extremely keen to ensure that our neighbours were happy with our future plans for the new shop. When it opened we personally invited all the residents of Ashcroft Road to a party and many came. We will be opening a community room in the autumn and have already started to ask our neighbours how they would like to use this space and will continue to do so.
And even over the colour of the building we took strides to consult. In April 2014, we presented a choice of light or dark blue building elevations to Cirencester Civic Society. The response was that the darker shade of blue was more appropriate.
Colour is very personal and subjective, and appears to change in different lights; this is illustrated by the enclosed photo of the building in sunlight. Similarly in your article our blue building is described as grey; the roof is grey but the walls are actually dark blue as we showed to the Civic Society.
Over the last 13 years we have designed ranges of fabric and wallpaper to encourage the use of interesting colours on curtains, blinds and furniture. We love the centre of Cirencester with its great spectrum of colours on the buildings, expressing the individual businesses that trade there. CDC conservation officers have wisely encouraged this diversity, which defines the character of the central conservation area.
We have significantly reduced the building's carbon footprint by transforming an unappealing asbestos roofed building, by adding insulation to the walls and roof.
We also hope that our loyal countrywide customers will be encouraged to visit our showroom and shop, and in doing so spend money locally in shops, cafes and restaurants; something we are already starting to see happen.
We have lived close to Cirencester for 30 years and have a great affection to the town, which is why we have moved our business there - we want to make a positive contribution to the area, so we urge Benita, Vicky and Nigel and anyone else to come and talk to us about any concerns they might have.
VANESSA AND NICHOLAS ARBUTHNOTT
VANESSA ARBUTHNOTT FABRICS
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