WELLINGTON’S town centre was hit with a spate of fly-posting by ‘Circus Wonderland’ earlier this week.

The event, which claims to be ‘Somerset’s favourite summer circus,’ is not even being staged in Wellington but at Monkton Heathfield, near Taunton, and starts for six days towards the end of this month.

One councillor in Wellington is so upset by the fly-posting he has called for a boycott of the circus.

Some shops in Wellington have accepted the posters willingly but others - mostly empty premises - have been targeted, one of the worst examples being the former E J Teare newsagents in South Street.

The building is already a mess with waste bins and cardboard outside but ten posters were stuck to its frontage on Monday. One shopkeeper said ‘Teare’s’ had already become an eyesore before the posters were put up.

She said: “It is letting the town down. I’ve no idea who owns it but they obviously do not care about its appearance. It’s a disgrace.’

Other posters have been slipped over the front doors of shops in the centre of Wellington without the owners’ permission.

WWN reporter Barry Knott removed four posters from the former One Stop store in High Street without going into the building. “The fly-posters simply slide their advertising material behind the front door using sticky-tape to secure it. I removed the four posters in the ‘One Stop’ within seconds.

“It’s an easy way of advertising - and it costs them hardly anything. They’re not interested in what the town looks like.”

Town councillor John Thorne, who is also one of Wellington’s two county councillors, called for residents to boycott the circus which the posters were promoting to send a message to the company behind it.

Cllr Thorne said the fly-posting was aggravating the run down look of the town centre with its empty shops and was making a mockery of its conservation area status.

He said fly-posting in public areas was an offence which the district council could act on, but it was a challenge when the posters were on private property such as the empty Teare’s newsagents because the authority needed the owner’s permission to remove them.

Cllr Thorne said: “This seems to happen year after year when the circus comes to town and you can bet nobody will be sent round to remove the posters after they have left.

“Short of changing the law to close the private property loophole, I think the only way to tackle it is for everyone to stay away from the circus and not buy tickets.

“If they do not get anyone going to their shows then they are going to lose money and they will stop coming here and then the fly-posting will stop as a result.”

County and local councillor Andrew Govier said: “I don’t mind one or two posters in town but this is over the top. And the really annoying thing is they don’t take the posters down after the event.”

He said fly-posting in public areas was an offence which the district council could act on, but it was a challenge when the posters were on private property such as the empty Teare’s newsagents because the authority needed the owner’s permission to remove them.

Cllr Thorne said: “This seems to happen year after year when the circus comes to town and you can bet nobody will be sent round to remove the posters after they have left.

“Short of changing the law to close the private property loophole, I think the only way to tackle it is for everyone to stay away from the circus and not buy tickets.

“If they do not get anyone going to their shows then they are going to lose money and they will stop coming here and then the fly-posting will stop as a result.”

County and local councillor Andrew Govier said: “I don’t mind one or two posters in town but this is over the top. And the really annoying thing is they don’t take the posters down after the event.”