{"id":940766,"date":"2026-05-06T04:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940766\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T04:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:26:16","slug":"future-of-faded-bristol-city-centre-artwork-still-undecided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940766\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of faded Bristol city centre artwork still undecided"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was due to be repainted ‘in the spring’ but nothing has happened yet<\/p>\n

The future of the faded Centre artwork<\/a> known as \u2018Our Common Ground\u2019 is still undecided.<\/p>\n

The \u00a361,000 artwork fell into disrepair soon after it was installed in September because the council insisted it was created with paint<\/a> and materials normally used for road markings, rather than more expensive and durable thermoplastics.<\/p>\n

Despite being repainted in October, it quickly wore away again and has become an eyesore in the middle of Bristol.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s intention was to repaint the floor mural \u2018in the spring\u2019 when the temperature was consistently over 10C. But repainting is yet to occur and Bristol Live understands it may not happen at all.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Centre artwork is still in a state of disrepair (picture taken on April 30)(Image: Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

A confirmed action plan has still not been agreed for the future of the artwork, a spokesperson for Bristol City Council<\/a> confirmed.<\/p>\n

Members of the public were divided on what should be done when Bristol Live spoke to them near the artwork on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Maggie from Hanham said she supported the council \u2018having another go.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so sad to see the state it\u2019s in,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it was a poor choice of materials or maybe the actual tarmac that\u2019s the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are going to repaint and the tarmac is the problem, then it\u2019s just going to end up the same. But I do support them having another go because the mural does add to the location and brightens up the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were here watching them work and thinking how beautiful it was going to be. The cost is worth it for the vision but not for the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original price of the artwork was \u00a361,000. Bristol City Council contributed \u00a331,000, which went towards installing the artwork, including all materials, labour, production and health and safety equipment.<\/p>\n

The remaining \u00a330,000 was given to the Bristol Legacy Foundation, chaired by former deputy mayor Asher Craig, by the Bristol City Centre<\/a> Business Improvement\u2013which is funded via business levies\u2013for an artist\u2019s fee along with \u2018engagement activities\u2019, curation and production. The money required to repaint the space was not included in the original budget, and would cost the council an estimated \u00a33,000 to \u00a35,000 a year.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Keen, from Bishopston, said the artwork had taken on a \u2018shoddy\u2019 appearance. While Ms Keen supported the idea of repainting the space, she also suggested the money it would take to do so may be better spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it was in a better state the colours really added something, and it looked good but now it\u2019s just faded away and looks a bit shoddy and grimy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it definitely needs redoing, but I\u2019d like to see maybe a different piece of art if they\u2019re going to repaint it. Let different local artists have a go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think that is a lot of money they\u2019ve spent on it though and you have to think whether that money could be spent elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul from Bristol was not quite so accommodating: \u201cThe whole mural was a waste of money, and it\u2019s a waste of money to repaint it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not been finished long and it\u2019s wearing away already.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw just the other day that they had it all fenced off and were working on it again. I can\u2019t see the sense in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was due to be repainted ‘in the spring’ but nothing has happened yet The future of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[13273,381,799,3893,10648,748,393,4884,30863,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-940766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bishopston","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-city-centre","11":"tag-bristol-city-council","12":"tag-bristol-live","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-hanham","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116525739872460723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}