A massive banner which greets motorists travelling into Bristol with a four-letter word could be taken down on council orders.

The advertisement for the French Connection UK fashion company is slung across nine storeys of a tower block and has a picture of a couple embracing.

Alongside is the clothing chain's famous abbreviated name in the slogan "vive le fcuk!"

Planners will next month be recommended by officers to reject a belated planning application on the grounds that the size and image are "inappropriate" in such a prominent site by the M32 motorway.

'Change of scenery'

Councillor John Astley, who can see the banner from his flat, said: "It is totally inappropriate for that sort of advert to be there on a major site coming into Bristol.

"There are 450 flats not very far from it and also a primary school and nursery. It is bad language done in a crafty way."

But at the nearby M32 newsagents shop and off-licence, the owner Entherjee Chuhan said: "I think it is something a bit different, a bit of a change of scenery.

"It is an empty building so you might as well do something with it.

"Some of my regular customers have come in saying 'Have you seen that huge advert?' but noone has complained about it."

He said people were not offended as the company's four-letter logo had been well-known for some time.

City council spokeswoman Kate Hartas said the banner did not have advertising consent but a retrospective application had been submitted which the council would consider on October 18.

They would deal with issues of size and location but advertising content was a matter for the Advertising Standards Authority.

The ASA said on Friday that no complaints had been received about the Bristol advertisement.