The 3 piece suite arrived yesterday, garish doesn't come close, so a 20 minute dip in AK's extreme metal cleaner (that stuff should come with a health warning - smell is horrendous and potent) left outside and then a wash in hot soapy water removed all of the decal/print on the chair. A coat of primer revealed that the pattern is actually embossed into the seat so a rub down to get everything level and then a coat of Vallejo putty, smoothed out with a brush was applied.
This has since been sanded back, so ready for another coat of primer and then good to paint (red)