In recent years, the high street has been struggling to attract the same level of consumers as it used to. A mixture of online retailers with next day delivery and the most recent blow of a global pandemic and rolling lockdowns has left the numbers of people wandering the high street dwindling. It’s not all doom and gloom though, we here to show you how Leeds high-street is ready for a comeback!
Our favourite example of how life has been brought back to Leeds is the latest mural designs on buildings spotted across Leeds. A much-loved one of these is the you and me, me and you mural by designer Anthony Burrill, covering one side of an 88-ft high, seven-story canal-side building. A piece of artwork this big was bound to attract some attention and that it did! The people of Leeds’ social medias are flooded with images of the mural, attracting people back to the high streets.
After being called up to play in the England team for Euros 2020, the Leeds United player Kalvin Phillips has also been turned into a mural on the side of a building in The Calls, commissioned by the club’s newest partnership with ROCNation. One of many Leeds United murals popping up around the city, we have some huge Leeds United fans here at Imageco so we are loving this right now, you can see previous work we’ve done down at Elland Road here. As well as a mural by Nicholas Dixon we’ve assisted in by producing a template for the text placed in Pudsey Market Square. Another amazing example of colour being brought back to the high street and a way to attract football fans as well as art and graphics work admirers.
We love seeing how lockdowns, as challenging as they have been for hospitality businesses, has given venues a chance to refresh their image and do a little uplifting work. Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen is a great example of this. They took the time to work with artists Benjamin Craven and Edan Mitchell-Finch to repaint the outside walls to be more colourful, something that worked a treat when outdoor dining was our only form of social interaction and the British public were out enjoying a pint in the pouring rain, as the wall runs alongside their outdoor seating area.
Not to brag, but we think we’ve done a pretty good job recently with uplifting Leeds city centre with our work done with local and up-and-coming artist Ekaterina. The initiative came from how bare and cold the high street has felt in Leeds since shops and hospitality venues closed back in November 2020. We wanted to develop bright and colourful prints which Ekaterina took inspiration from passers-by in Leeds to create the artwork.
We can see how the streets are being revitalised through the use of artwork and colourful imagery and we would love to continue helping bring life back to high streets as these murals have, so if you’re ever on the lookout for people who can uplift your space through the use of eco-friendly wallpaper, store signs, big colourful prints and much more, don’t hesitate to get in contact and together we can help the high street flourish!
