‘That’s made my day’: expansive new Peterborough wall mural brightens up popular Werrington chippy
Celebrated street artist creates ‘lovely’ Paddington Bear mural to help community pay tribute to late Queen.
Werrington residents are getting used to a grand new wall mural looking down upon them from the side of their local fish & chip shop.
The ever-popular Salt N Vinegar on Lincoln Road has been decorated with a large spray-painted image depicting Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh walking with Paddington Bear and a corgi.
The revered monarch’s famous words ‘We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again’ are emblazoned across the expansive, letterbox-shaped mural.
The image is the work of celebrated local street artist Nathan Murdoch.
He told the Peterborough Telegraph that he managed to fulfil the chip shop owner’s request in double-quick time:
“I started it Saturday morning and I was finished by Saturday afternoon,” adding, “and that was with a lot of people talking to me.”
Thirty-seven-year-old Nathan - who goes by the name ‘Nath Nice’ - has been a full-time graffiti artist for nearly five years.
He acknowledged that street art – graffiti created with spray cans – is not appreciated by everyone. However, he was pleased to note that this particular image seemed to have a “universal” appeal.
Indeed, he’s been quite taken aback by “everyone just saying how lovely it is.”
“I’d just finished [painting] it and a little old lady came out of the shop next door and said to me ‘that’s made my day’ - just that comment from her alone made it all worthwhile for me.”
The sensational image on the chippy’s wall is based on the sensitive illustration Eleanor Tomlinson famously painted of The Queen walking hand-in-hand with Paddington Bear.
Nathan went out of his way to ensure he had the Yorkshire artist’s blessing before he started his own variation of her now beloved artwork.
“I contacted her and said I think the local community would really like to see it. We had a bit of a conversation and she said ‘yeah, yeah - go ahead.’”
“So once I got her approval that was when we got it done.”
And has Eleanor seen it?
“I sent her pictures,” Nathan said, proudly: “She said she loved it.”