The owner of a Preston burger eatery has said the choice of song on a fake blue plaque at their premises was ‘random’ as he faced criticism for the city’s historical society.
A blue plaque was put up at All Hopes No Promises on St Wilfrid Street which claims that the song Africa, by the band Toto, was written there in 1982 by Jeff Porcaro and David Paich.
The plaque, which All Hopes No Promises said is not intended to be taken seriously, is marked with the Preston Coat-of-Arms and the name of Preston Historical Society.
Mick Evans, who owns the business, told Blog Preston: “The song was literally just random as f***.
“We did it for people to stand and take a photo and it managed to work. The song is a strange one, you hear it and it gets stuck in your mind.
“Although I did set it as my daughter’s alarm for the past five years.”
Trustees from Preston Historical Society were informed of the fake plaque on 9 February and visited All Hopes No Promises on Friday (13 February) but were prevented from removing the sign by staff at the business.
Patricia Harrison, chair of Preston Historical Society, said: “There is a careful process undertaken before PHS endorses a blue plaque in Preston or South Ribble.
“The PHS logo is a mark that the heritage aspect of the plaque has been checked carefully, and the reader can have confidence in the accuracy of the text.
“One post I saw apparently from All Hopes No Promises, added that English Heritage came out to award the building a plaque. Once again this is misleading. English Heritage does not carry out such functions in Preston.
“PHS approached the business about the misleading plaque. We checked today and are disappointed it is still in place. If the intention was to gain attention, then I suppose they have achieved it.
“But it has misled some members of the public and created work for our volunteers in responding to queries. Fake news is not confined to Trump’s America.”
Evans added that he has emailed Preston Historical Society about the sign, which he said cost £30, and asked what he could do to help.
He said: “They just rocked up and tried taking it down, saying it was illegal. They gave our manager a card. I’ve emailed them but I’ve had no reply back.”
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