Mural aims to brighten up city street (From The Oxford Times)

Mural aims to brighten up city street

2:37pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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A GIANT mural has been created featuring shops, businesses and historic landmarks to brighten up a street in Oxford.

James Salter, who has run Cowboymod hairdressers in Walton Street for the past 14 years, came up with the idea for the colourful wall painting.

Shops, schools, churches and other historic sites are all represented on the four 8ft x 6ft images, which will be displayed in the windows of a empty building on the corner of Walton Street and Little Clarendon Street.

The Jericho Community Mural, by artist Stuart Roper, will be unveiled at 3pm on Saturday.

Mr Salter, 45, said: “Walton Street is a very long street and if you have a shop at one end of the street you can forget about the businesses at the other end.

“I thought we should be doing everything we could to celebrate each other’s businesses, particularly in a recession.

“Jericho is a lovely part of Oxford but it can be slightly overlooked, and I think the mural will create a real feel-good factor.

“The mural has definitely created a buzz in the area.

“I think it will make everyone feel part of the community and what goes on in it.”

Mr Salter said the building’s owners had given permission for the mural to be put in the four window spaces, which have recently been boarded up.

He added: “The building is owned by a London-based property company and we have managed to get permission from the owners to put the mural up on a temporary basis.

“There has been very little resistance from anyone and I’m hoping that it will be able to stay up for a couple of years.”

Mr Roper painted the mural and printers Blue Amigo, of Little Clarendon Street, have printed the display. Local poet John Elinger has written a poem to mark the launch of the mural entitled The Battle for Jericho, which will be printed on the door of the building.

Mr Roper, 55, from Wantage, said: “Jericho is a very vibrant area, so it has been exciting to work with such a dynamic group of people on this.

“The whole project has probably taken about two years to plan, with the mural taking in about 40 different businesses and buildings.

“We have the designs on computer, so if one of the panels is damaged in any way we should be able to replace it.”

Susanna Pressel, Labour city councillor for Jericho and Osney, said: “I think the mural is an excellent idea.”