POSTERS advertising an event at a venue owned by Wyre Forest District Council have been described as an "eyesore" by a musician who could have landed the licensees of a Kidderminster pub a £375,000 fine earlier this year.

Drummer, Dale Minaker, who plays in the band, Monkey's Punk, removed posters advertising a gig he played in May after the council told the licensees of the Boars Head Taphouse, in Worcester Street, they were liable for fines of £2,500 for each poster, under its fly-posting laws.

The Horsefair resident has now been angered by posters for a basketball event, which is being promoted privately, at Kidderminster's Forest Glades leisure centre.

About 70 of the posters, which feature the council's logo, have been placed on the former Barrel pub, in Bromsgrove Street, and on a fence in Birmingham Road.

The 30-year-old said: "They do make it seem that the council are not using a level playing field because it looks like it is saying that some posters are fine and others are not. It gives out a very mixed message"

Andy Hipkiss, joint licensee of the Boars Head Tap House, has now warned bands playing at the venue not to advertise in that way.

He added: "The amount of posters on the old Barrel pub does not make it look very nice and I was not pleased when I first saw them

"It makes it feel like because it is an event at a council venue then it did not matter. If the promoter has got permission then I do not think anything could be done and that is fair enough."

Andrew Dickens, the council's head of cultural, leisure and commercial services, said the latest situation was different because Mr Minaker's band had placed posters on highway fixtures and fittings.

He explained: "Our rules do prohibit fly-posting and the penalties involved are the same for everyone. If the posters have been placed on private property, with the permission of the owner of the building, then it cannot be considered fly-posting. At the moment, we have not received any complaints about the posters but we will look into the issue to see if there is a problem."

Mr Dickens added the hiring of the Forest Glades venue was subject to conditions that prohibited the use of fly-posting.