Derelict shrubhill street art in photos

Since the council decided that their former social work headquarters at Shrubhill was surplus to requirements the site has lain empty, alongside the adjoining, and partially demolished bus depot, despite the odd fringe show and various proposals for housing and hotel developments on the site coming and going.

The site has however taken on another life. Earlier this year, the unsightly, half demolished building was dubbed the big society headquarters. Is it a joke? Is it a comment on society? No-one could really work it out - even if it did raise a wry smile from passers by. 

 

Allthough the big society sign eventually died of natural causes, as the graffiti on the skeleton of the building testifies, people could get in to it and paint it.

This caused health and safety concerns in the council and recently it was boarded up more firmly with steel panels to stop people getting into the building. 

However, people can still get onto the Shrubhill site - and that includes the graffiti artists who have voiced their frustration at the doorway where they used to get in to the old office block by painting a blunt message on the door.

The photo above, which we found on Facebook courtesy of a Leither who has been into the site, was followed by a few comments to the effect that the colourful graffiti on the building was an improvement on the new grey steel shutters. 

And a quick search of Flickr shows how busy the graffiti fans have been - both in the old office building and the depot. Here's a photo of the roof of the Shrubhill office building. 

And here's one from inside: 

Here's another one from inside: 

Here's one in the depot: 

Here's another one: 

And here's another one featuring some old cartoon characters: 

And this is part graffiti, part sculpture: 

You can find more photos of Shrubhill on Flickr here. 

Whilst we can appreciate that the council probably had no choice to board the building up in case someone hurt themselves - the photos show that the Shrubhill site has become something like a diy art gallery. You might not like it, and it is probably illegal, but some of it certainly looks pretty good. And social media has done a pretty good job of documenting the best of the work. 

Photos by theDaffodilfish, Steven Sutterby, Keira Docherty, and pitseleh98.

Artists/vandals (delete as appropriate) unknown.

Decent street art shock on Leith Walk

Whilst ultimately the difference between art and graffiti is still probably permission (and we have no idea whether this is officially sanctioned), you have to admit this is really rather good isn't it?

If the artist who made this is willing to get in touch, in strict confidentiality if necessary, then we'd be delighted to post an interview.

The Broughton Spurtle has also noticed some above average street art on MacDonald Road, Bonnington Road and elsewhere in the phenomenological land of Spurtleshire.

Is it the same person, a collective, a conspiracy or a coincidence? What do you think?

A miscellany of neighbourhood notices in July

Here's some photos of things that other people want you to know. 

The Dog Watch

Some anonymous people are setting up an email newsletter for local pet lovers. To sign-up they want you to email: woof-woof@virginmedia.com

Open Air Youth Club

The council is running open air youth clubs in King George V Park and Victoria Park. They're very exciting. You can tell by the number of exclamation marks in the poster.

Craigroyston FC

In St Marks Park, Craigroyston have got a series of pre-season games lined up.

Planning Graffiti

On the side of a development by Port of Leith Housing Assocation next to the Water of Leith, there's some planning graffiti. You don't see that very often.

It's an interesting coincidence that The Port of Leith Housing Association objected to the Biomass plant, just like the person who wrote the graffiti, so it will be interesting to see how quickly they remove it.

Fit As A Monkey

On Leith Links, there's a few new fitness clubs starting up. There's the one above, which seems determined to transform as many of Leith's fertile women folk into monkeys, and there's this one:

According to the organisers of the Sensation Bootcamp, "It is as much fun as it sounds." Quite.

Feel free to send us your photos of neighbourhood notices.

Public Service Graffiti

Below, you can see two images of graffiti. Both are trying to alert people, in their own way, to the unpleasantness of dog fouling on public footways. This one is on the cycle path near Leith Academy:

This one is on pavement somewhere in the Boswell area: 

The strange thing is the person responsible for the graffiti in image number one was breaking the law, whilst the person resonsible for the graffiti in the second image works for the council and will probably get a pay rise and/or an award.

North Edinburgh has been hit before by state funded flyposting and graffiti, and we were equally unimpressed then. We tend to support the view in the video below, produced by the, er council, that suggest that graffiti, of any kind, increases people's fear of crime.

So, you can file this latest incident, once again, under "things that would never happen in the New Town."

Of course, if you are at all upset by any graffiti you see added onto the pavement by the council, the council says that you should call, er, the council. So that's reassuring.

Jazz is the teacher

You don't need to search that far on the internet to see that there's a graffiti artist/vandal (delete as you see fit) in Leith who has a prediliction for writing vaguely philosophical things on walls around Leith. The photo above shows his latest offering, which has appeared near Rikkis Music Shop on Leith Walk.

Many people will recall "Do Not Be Afraid" on the wall of the old video rental shop on Leith Walk which is possibly the urban philosphers greatest hit, however other phrases clearly from the same back catalogue include:

"Don't want to be alone in case those things come round again."

"Sent U Flowers U Wanted Chocolates Instead"

"Lovers Sleep Alone"

Do you like this type of graffiti? Or do you think it's simply vandalism? Do you know the mystery philospher of Leith? And if you do, can you find out if they'd like to write a guest blog post for Greener Leith to explain more?

Help complete the Pilrig Park Berry Hedge

Greener Leith is calling on volunteers to help us complete the Pilrig Park berry hedge on Saturday the 19th of March. As you can see from the photo, we planted the first half of the hedge, with help from Pilrig Park School pupils and local volunteers, in 2008. However, we couldn't finish it as part of the wall was scheduled to be rebuilt.

The wall has long since been completed, and the part of the wall that is not hidden by a hedge is now covered in graffiti. The bit we did plant grew rapidly, as you can see in the photo below, taken last summer. So, Greener Leith is delighted to announce that we have successfully sourced funding from the Pilrig Residents Association, and the Vegware Community Fund to complete the job.

As previously, pupils from Pilrig Park School will help to plant the hedge on the Friday the 18th. The council have alse pledged to clear the wall of graffiti before we start planting. However, there will undoubtedly be plenty left to do on the Saturday.

Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said:

"Greener Leith is very grateful for all the local support that is has received over the years.   The first leg of the Berry Hedge, which was planted with the help of local volunteers and children from Pilrig School, has been extremely successful in preventing graffiti as well as vandalism in the park.  The native plant species are good for local wildlife and we hope that in years to come they will produce the ingredients for many a pot of hedgerow jelly."

"I am very happy to have the help from pupils and teachers from Pilrig School once more, particularly pleased with the way that CEC have been on hand to support Greener Leith in providing expertise, tools and man power, but I would also like to thank the Pilrig Residents’ Association, who provided the funds to plant the last 150 meters of the Berry Hedge."

We're also delighted that the event will also see the City of Edinburgh Council launch its Britain in Bloom campaign for 2011. More details on this will be covered by a seperate press release that will probably be issued by the council in the next few days.

To take part, meet in the park at 10am on the Saturday. Please bring your own gloves and spades if you can. If you'd like more information please contact us.

Whilst anyone is welcome to simply  turn-up on the day, you can confirm your attendance by signing up for the event on the Greener Leith Social.

Please note that under 16's need to have an adult with them.

Leith hit by state funded flyposting and graffiti

Filed under things that happen in Leith that would never happen in the New Town, and hot on the heels of news that Leith tops the league table of empty shops in Scotland, Leithers will no doubt have noticed their neighbourhood has suddenly been festooned in adverts, flyposting and pavement graffiti, supporting the controversial, and award winning, No Knives Better Lives Campaign.

Our community involvement work on active travel found a clear link between issues like litter, grafitti, flyposting and perceived public safety risks and residents willingness to walk and visit some parts of Leith. Presumably, this campaign is supposed to 'reassure' the wider public, whilst targeting young people at risk of getting involved in knife crime.

Local residents we spoke to (in an admittedly unscientific poll) thought the campaign may have the opposite effect - not withstanding the detrimental effect badly applied flyposters have on the local shopping experience, people could be forgiven for thinking that if the government needs to plaster a particular street in 'anti-stab' messages then there must be a problem with knife crime in that street. Fromt this perspective, the 'anti-stab' messages do seem to rather undermine the government funded efforts to encourage people to come to Leith through the "I Love Leith" campaign.

But perhaps there's also an even bigger mixed message here. Although one way to define the difference between graffiti and art is the simple word 'permission,' it does seem ironic that the council spends thousands of pounds on removing flyposting and treating graffiti each year. This campaign says, well actually, flyposting and graffiti in public spaces is OK - as long as it's the government that is doing it!

We also wonder where this is going to end. It may be state sponsored graffiti on the pavements today. How long until the council start to see pavements as a revenue generation opportunity? Are sponsored pavements coming soon?

There are lot's of good things about the No Knives, Better Lives Campaign - the diversionary activities, the partnership working and even this YouTube video below. We're just wondering - has this campaign over reached itself a bit? What do you think?

Graffiti crack down on Leith Walk

Dealing with graffiti is a tough problem. Local authorities spend a fortune getting rid of the stuff, and even then, it's pretty hard to get private property owners to remove it. After all, it can be expensive - and they're the victims of crime. Not the perpetrators.

And besides, sometimes people have some sympathy for the graffiti 'artist.' For example, Local blogger 'Suitably Despairing' catalogues the exploits of the 'ethical graffiti' artist who took to commenting on bill boards posted around Leith and North Edinburgh.  In Bristol, home of Banksy, they're proposing to involve local residents in deciding whether graffiti is street art or vandalism. In Glasgow, they've been paying local graffiti artists to do official murals, like the one below, to cover up the unofficial ones - as this is cheaper than removing it again and again from the same places.

Many people will recognise the graffiti in the photo at the top of this post from Leith Walk, and it's clearly caught a lot of people's attention as there's loads of photos of it, and graffiti like it, on photo-sharing website Flickr.com.

However, at the end of the day, there's a lot of graffiti that falls into the category of mindless petty vandalism, and one persons art, can easily be regarded by others as a scary indication of high crime rates. So, we think it's certainly good news to hear that the City of Edinburgh Council have confirmed that they're going to do a thorough clean-up of Leith Walk. It needs it - and we hope they'll deal with all the flyposting on the empty shops too.