There's an artist painting a fantastic sea bed on the borded up Blue Mountain cafe on Devonshire Road near Forest Hill station today. Great stuff. I wish somebody would do something with those abandoned shops though.
There's a painting popped up In Dartmouth Rd, on the wall of the old Midland bank... not entirely sure what it's meant to be though
Here is what Blue Mountain looked like last week. Probably the least attractive shop front in Forest Hill after many years empty. Which is why the Forest Hill Society arranged for it to be painted, with funding provided by Forest Hill ward assembly.
I don't think it is quite finished yet, so I'll let you "enjoy" what it looked like last week:
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I think it's finished now. I walked past about an hour ago and the Horniman aquarium artwork looks amazing.
Looks wonderful.
I'm going to have a coffee in St David Coffee Shop and sit outside just so I can gaze on this lovely thing. Well done all concerned!
Good work. Hopefully more shutter art will appear, I think it really improves the aesthetics of the area. I'd also like to see the art reflect the shop (i.e like the Butchery).
But preserved for posterity on the virtual rant board.
If you would like to see more shutter art on shops that are open, please mention it to the owners. The Forest Hill Society, or the shops with the art, can put shops in touch with local artists capable of doing a wonderful job. I really didn't expect the aquarium theme to look quite so good.
If only we could get our hands on those shutters at the launderette...what would you like to see on them?
If only we could get our hands on those shutters at the launderette...what would you like to see on them?
Nothing wishy-washy.
And I do like the Horniman's Aquarium artwork. I look forward to seeing it in the real later this afternoon.
It obviously is better that the eyesore that was there before but to be honest I am not sure about all this. The art isn't that good really and I think they could look terrible in a short period of time. Can't we just enforce landlords to clean up their empty premises and not worry with stuff like this.
I was thinking the same thing. I'd rather have a properly painted and varnished shopfront any time, even when empty, rather than cartoon style murals not totally removed from trackside graffiti.
I think the shutter art is fun, and looks much better than graffiti!
I vote for more shutter art
What was the landlord not doing that he should have been enforced to do? The shop is empty and boarded up. Is the landlord obliged to do anything else?
Brilliant, has really brightened up that end of the road, much better brightened up that some neglected shutdown shop
I think the two shop fronts that Shutter Art would make the most impact to the town centre aesthetics are W H Smith's and the Laundrette. I'm not sure if/how FHS have/could try and engage each party.
I think a "forest scape" on the laundrette would look good.
I saw people working on the outside of the laundrette today which suggests it might not be long before Pedders (if they are indeed the new tenants) take over.
I doubt that it will be Pedders as I understood that the planning application had been refused.
Peddar still have another 3 months in which they can lodge an appeal against the council's decision, should they believe it will get them anywhere.
I'm sure that if the lease was marketed it would not be difficult to find a tenant for such a prime location. As I understand it any use other than a launderette would require a change of use, even to a dry cleaner (A1 retail), and even a pop-up shop might require change of use (unless it included laundry facilities) as there are no permitted development rights for a launderette.