'Maidenhead's own Banksy' paints town centre street art

‘Maidenhead’s own Banksy’ has painted a street art mural to brighten up the town centre.

Maidenhead-based graffiti artist James Maddison was enlisted to paint over a section of the wooden hoarding around the outside of The Landing development site in Queen Street.

The mural, which James spent most of Monday and Tuesday spray painting, depicts a white silhouetted stag with a blue background of trees and a cityscape.

The work has been funded by Cllr Gurch Singh (Con, St Mary's) who used £750 of his councillor allowance to pay for it.

Cllr Singh said: “Banksy was in the news last week for a mural he did on Valentines Day in Bristol, but in Maidenhead we’ve got our own Banksy.

“Its not just graffiti like you got in the 80s and 90s.”

“We should be celebrating and be proud of it.”

The chairman of the Maidenhead Town Forum, Cllr Singh said he has had positive conversations with artists and other developers who are working in the town centre, and revealed his ambition to get more art up around the town.

He added that he had also spoken to schools about potentially getting their students involved.

He said: “My hope is to bring developers on board and try to encourage them to embrace it because we have so much hoarding going up around the town centre.

“We have some subways which would be fantastic for a makeover. I am really hoping this will grow.”