THEY put Warrington firmly on the map – and briefly made one of its railway stations the most famous in the world.
But then the “no kissing” and “kissing” signs at Bank Quay station, which had made headlines across Europe, Scandinavia and the US, suddenly disappeared.
Virgin Trains, fed up with accusations of taking the romance of rail travel, took them down and put them up for sale on auction website ebay in aid of Comic Relief.
Bids came in from far and wide – but when the signs were finally sold for £546 just seconds before the bidding deadline, the buyer chose to remain anonymous and everything went quiet.
But now the new owner has stepped forward – and revealed that the signs have moved less than a quarter-of-a-mile.
They are now at Shelly’s Restaurant, in Bold Street, Warrington.
Proprietor Shelly Butterworth said: “I decided the signs should stay in Warrington and put in a bid for £50. Then other people put in bids and I thought ‘it’s in a good cause’ and bid again. I thought I had got them for £300.
“But with only a minute to go someone put in a higher bid and I thought ‘they’re not having them’ and put in a bid with only seconds to go.
“It was quite difficult because the restaurant was busy at the time but I was elated when I realised I had got them.
“I will be putting them on display in the restaurant. It’s all a bit of fun because we don’t have a problem with kissing, even though some couples can get quite affectionate when they come in to celebrate an engagement or a wedding anniversary.”
Shelly got an extra reward when she collected the signs from Bank Quay station – a peck on the cheek from Virgin Trains’ team leader Stephen Welsh.
