RICHARD GERE - GERE'S RESTAURANT BATTLE

GERE'S RESTAURANT BATTLE

RICHARD GERE's upstate New York restaurant has landed him in a row with wealthy locals and town officials, who are demanding he tears down a fence they claim spoils their view.
The actor recently opened the Bedford Post Inn, in the town of Bedford, which is 45 miles (72 kilometres) north of New York City, and where Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren and Glenn Close all own homes.
After neighbours complained about the 'eyesore' parking lot, Gere and business partner Russell Hernandez erected a 18 foot long (5.5 metres), five foot high (1.5 metres) cedar fence.
Now local officials have stepped in to insist it is taken down, claiming it breaches local planning rules and looks worse than the parking lot.
Hazel Nourse, the head of the town's zoning board, tells the New York Daily News, "It's a lovely building, but the fence sticks out like a sore thumb."
Gere and Hernandez have agreed to keep the town happy, with the latter insisting, "If they say you have to have a four-foot fence, then that's what we'll do."