Who knew a plastic hedge could cause so much stress?

Marlow - The quiet, quaint town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire has been angered to its very core because of plastic hedges. Could it be a PR stunt as a brand new eatery is opening?

The small Buckinghamshire town is known for its riverside haunts, quaint coffee houses and boutique shops. But when the Chequers, a large pub on the high street, got new owners and they dared putting plastic hedge outside, the furor began. There was so much rage that the new owners T M Steaks have now claimed that the plan was to always replace them with real ones. Well, that maybe but the scandal started weeks ago – but it wasn’t until July 17th, when Bucks Free Press publicised the feelings of Marlow that it all got out of hand. The Bucks Free Press published daily articles on the state of the hedge, got quotes from councillors, towns-people and tradesmen and really escalated the problem. It seemed that this was the biggest outrage to hit the small town since Starbucks came – and all this time T M Steaks kept quiet. Until yesterday… ‘T M Stakes, (sic) the new tenants at The Chequers, said it had simply been waiting for the real plants to arrive and the plastic version had always purely been intended as an ‘interim measure’. (Bucks Free Press, 20th July) Of course, the town is now happy with the new, real hedges but was it a PR scam from the beginning? The Pub is due to open this weekend and thanks to the hedges has received a lot of press – and when reading about the hedge it is impossible to ignore details of the re-furb or the real wood floors.