A CONTROVERSIAL pub sign taken down amid a race row is to be re-hung once again after undergoing a facelift.

Licensees at the Labour In Vain, Yarnfield, say the sign – which shows a black boy sitting in a tub being scrubbed by a white couple – is part of the pub's and England's heritage.

They have decided to return it to the rear of the 160-year-old building, where it has been displayed for several years following a row which made national headlines, now restoration work on the sign has been completed.

The main outdoor sign was replaced by a more politically correct version in 1993 after complaints to then-owner Bass from two 10-year-old girls.

An image of a farmer sowing seeds being mobbed by birds now hangs at the front of the Yarnfield Lane pub.

But in 2001, then-licensees Christine and John Glover found the original sign and hung it in the beer garden. That led to a letter from Stafford and District Racial Equality Council (REC) asking for it to be removed from view, but the board has remained in place since.

New licensees Vince Hannant and Debbie Donovan say the original sign remains a much-loved feature of the pub – and that it raises a smile with locals and visitors of all colours and backgrounds.

Vince, aged 41, said: "When we took over in April there was some suggestion that maybe the sign should come down, but the locals said, 'Don't even touch it, we've been through so much to keep it'.

"But it was in a bit of an unhappy state, so we decided to have it repainted."

Debbie, aged 40, said: "We would love to hang it out the front but I do not think we will be allowed to.

"But there are people from all walks of life who come in here and have a laugh. No-one is hating it or thinking it should be taken down."

Vince added: "Too many English traditions are dying and we wanted to do our bit to save this one. There is nothing malicious about it and it shows a part of English heritage. We want to show we care about the pub."

Contract manager Richard Charwood has been living in Yarnfield and drinking in the Labour In Vain for 44 years. After the row broke out over the sign last time, he arranged a referendum of villagers which found that people were overwhelmingly in support of keeping the original sign.

The 69-year-old said: "When Bass took the board down the strength of feeling in the village was such that they re-erected the sign on the wall immediately above the main entrance. It stayed there for some time and, when the pub was re-decorated, it disappeared. Then the landlady found it and put it up around the back, where it has been until now."

Mervyn Edwards, from Wolstanton, spokesman for the Potteries Pub Preservation Group, said: "The Labour In Vain sign caused a furore back then but the sign actually depicts futility rather than being offensive from a racist point of view.

"I think perhaps that some people got the wrong end of the stick and 16 years ago we were starting the PC age, as it were."

The original sign is to be re-hung outside the pub, which probably gained its name as a recruitment spot for casual Victorian workers, on Thursday.

Nobody from Enterprise Inns, which now owns the pub, was available for comment.

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