THE owner of the vegan café who was ordered to remove his wall mural over claims of ‘misinformation’, is saving to buy a new one.

The display detailing the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle was part of the recent re-branding of Plant Hustler, previously named Dirty Vegans.

Aaron Bryans, owner of the Boscombe eatery, was asked to remove the mural by the trading standards team.

He said: “It’s sad at the moment, I kept it covered for a good few weeks and then I was like you know what I can’t afford it right now but then also I don’t want half my wall covered with greaseproof paper.

“So, I took it down and I just got a pen and scribbled over it and I kind of put a jokey disclaimer there, in the meanwhile, until I can get some money and get a whole new mural done.”

“A lot of people feel quite hard done by because we’re being silenced, there’s been lots of videos out there exposing big supermarket names for having animals in their slaughterhouses that don’t look anything like what they advertise.”

“They’re allowed to do it and that’s misleading because at the end of the day all these kids out there, they’ve got a dissociation with food, they don’t associate chicken with a bird.”

In the latest update, the Council issued the café with an official report reiterating that their stance hasn’t changed and that the mural needs to be replaced.

Mr Bryans said: “It’s just very confusing because we’ve been here for 2 and a half years and there has never been one person who has come in here and gone out here huffing and puffing because they couldn’t get any meat in here or they feel like they’ve been mis-sold.

“They still want us to change it, so I have to get it redesigned but this all costs about £1,600, and the council haven’t offered me anything.

“I’ve been begging the council round here lately to help us in general, Boscombe is in bits and I’ve contacted both the local councillors because I’m just dumbstruck. They’re making it really difficult for a business which is doing something good for the area and bringing in more people.”

A BCP Council spokesperson said: "Plant Hustler (previously known as Dirty Vegans) received all of their entitled lockdown grants including LRSG, Closed Business Lockdown Grant and the Restart Grant.

"Payments were made to Plant Hustler and Dirty Vegans Ltd. The payments amounted to £36,305.78. In addition they were visited by an Information Officer on 2 November 2020, which was just prior to the second national lockdown.

"They gave permission for their email address to be added to the survey database and so would have received any subsequent information emails that were sent from Information Officers."