Peterborough artists call for more legal spaces for creatives to use graffiti after rise in murals commissioned

Two high-profile Peterborough street artists are calling for more spaces across the city for creatives to use street art legally.

Steve Crowe and Nathan Murdoch have also said Peterborough needs to look to leading cities in the UK and take a creative leap to put more local artists on the map.

Tattoo and mural artist Steve Crowe, from Werrington, also known for his work at Charters, Glow Golf and The Cock Inn, was commissioned to design one of his biggest solo projects yet on The Angle Gaming Lounge on Lincoln Road.

“In the last few months it’s been pretty crazy,” he told the Peterborough Telegraph. “I painted a mural at the Cock Inn and then after that I painted a huge mural at Charters, that was pretty much on the scale of the Angle Gaming Lounge, though it was two shipping containers.”

“It’s really rewarding: spray painting brightens the community, you’re doing something that’s positive by catching peoples eye.

“It’s all been positive and never anything negative. On Lincoln Road, every time I turned around and looked there was a row of cars at the traffic lights and everyone was looking up at my work, that’s the job where I’ve been most on show.”

Peterborough Rugby Club and Ferry Meadows are also in talks over commissioning his work, too.

It comes as talented Nathan Murdoch, his friend, has also seen a huge rise in the number of projects he’s been working on in Peterborough, including a giant mural on the corner of Gladstone and Bright Street and most recently, an unloved toilet block at The Embankment.

The pair say Peterborough is a harder city to crack to become a street artist than that of it’s street art muses in Leicester, Birmingham and London.

Look ahead, not to the past

“Peterborough is still very far behind on street artistry but it’s getting there and it’s really good to see, over the past six months there’s been some big murals going up,” Steve said.

“The underpass, under the Parkway, is Peterborough’s legal graffiti spot where young people can paint. Often, they feel a bit intimidated because there’s a lot of really good artwork down there from people who might be out of the city and they don’t want to go over it.

“That’s something Peterborough could improve on is by supplying more places for people to paint, all you need is an underpass, there’s no upkeep.

“Cities like Birmingham and Leicester see a lot of murals pop up, which is really good for new revenue, for graffiti tours. People go round the cities with a guide who takes you to all these street art locations.

“It’s good for the city, the more murals we get and the more places we get that people can legally paint, the better.”

‘More support for creatives’

Nathan, who started spray painting in 1999, agreed that there needs to be more locations for creative output.

He said: “I’ve seen locations like Welland Mobile, Crofts Corner and Y2SK8, which were all legal locations in the city before our singular IKEA tunnel location [underpass] we have now. I think all of those places existed at the same time at one point. I learned a lot from the people I met at those places and it took me nearly two years of pleading with Peterborough City Council to get our current tunnel legalised. We went with a number of locations and they only gave us this one as it was so far from residential.

"Problem the tunnel has in our culture it’s called a ‘hall of fame’. The idea is you go there to do your best, you have to paint over someone else which is subjective to which is better. Some of the new starters may feel intimidated so maybe a location that was less ‘prestigious’ could be an advantage.

“Our city is smaller by a lot than London, Birmingham and Leicester. The issue is much bigger than permission to graffiti or create street art locations though – but a general support for creatives.

“We have some incredible creatives in Peterborough, some have achieved great things but as a city we celebrate the past more than we do the modern.

“It needs a total city change, not just a few walls. Street art is part of modern culture, it’s a multi-billion pound industry. Nearly everyone loves a Banksy now…!”

Steve added: “It’s good for people to understand about street art, a lot of people still have that narrow mindedness about it.”

Steve is now looking head at combining spray painting with youth work in the city.