SUPERMARKET bosses have agreed to "tone down" the appearance of the front of a new stop in Brockenhurst.

Scores of locals believe the Tesco Express store in Brookley Road, Brockenhurst, does not fit in with Brockenhurst's picture postcard image.

Store chiefs opened the shop, pictured right, with a cash machine and two illuminated signs at the front without applying for the necessary planning permission.

Planners at New Forest District Council later rejected retrospective applications by Tesco for the fixtures.

Eventually Tesco took the signs down and the cash point was boarded up in the past few days.

Richard Anderson, Tesco spokesman, said: "We are looking to tone things down generally in the next month or two.

"The bright white Tesco fascia board will be toned down to an off-white colour and we will make the window plainer with fewer stickers."

Tesco Express opened last November, replacing the family-run business of Purkess which had been associated with the village for a century.

Richard Anderson added: "In an ideal world we would have had everything in place first. The alternative was to remove the shop service completely from the village until all the planning consent requisites were in place.

"I'm sure that is not what people would have wanted so we went ahead and we are now applying retrospectively."

He said the cash point has been boarded up temporarily during the appeal process.

Steve Avery, principal planning officer at NFDC, said: "We are looking to negotiate with them to put back something that is more in keeping with Brockenhurst.

"Tesco is going to have to go about doing things in the right way."

District councillor Pat Wyeth said: "I am pleased that they have now taken down all the signs they didn't have planning permission for.

"It's a pity they didn't do it as soon as it was refused.

"The company is now talking to planning officers to find a way forward and to try and keep its shop more in keeping with the rest of the village."