Police box is an arresting sight after its new paint job

Published on Thursday 26 March 2009 08:58

LIKE many police boxes around the city, the little blue building on the corner of Montgomery Street Park has grown more and more dilapidated over the decades.

Vandals sprayed it with graffiti and tried to pull out one of the windows, and the box changed from being a community asset to a complete eyesore.

Attempts to trace the owners who bought it from the police several years ago and ask them to repair it failed, so local people have taken the matter into their own hands and had the box painted themselves.

Julienne Thurrott, chairwoman of the Friends of Montgomery Street Park, said: "The box has been derelict or in a bad state for years, and we'd always thought it would make a big improvement to the approach to the park if the box was painted and tidied up."

She spent two years trying to trace the owners of the box, but got no response when she finally contacted them to ask if they would repair and paint it.

When the group decided to hold a "Paint It" day at the park, it seemed logical to include the police box in the plans, despite the lack of contact with the owners.

Ms Thurrott said: "We thought if we're going to be improving it, how can you object to somebody painting it and making it look better than it did before?"

Decorator Gordon Walls agreed to do the work at a reduced rate, and painted the box what Ms Thurrott described as "Dr Who blue", with gold trim.

Ms Thurrott added: "On approach to the park you're greeted by this shiny police box. It means that it looks really good and it lifts your spirits to see something nicely painted like that. It makes it look like the area is cared for.

"We've had a really positive reaction from people living locally. One lady, who has lived in Montgomery Street all her life, said it had never been painted the whole time she'd been there, which is about 50 years.

"A lot of people would like to see it as a coffee box and some local businesses have said that they'd be interested in doing something with it, but we can't really do anything until we can get some response from the owner."

Mr Walls said: "It's a major transformation. It's just a wee project but overall it really improves the area."

At the Paint It day, held on March 14, local people were encouraged to "buy" a brick in the wall through the middle of the park for 2 and paint it with a design of their own. Ms Thurrott said around 750 had been raised.

The group hopes to raise half a million pounds to carry out a complete revamp of the park.

&#149 www.montgomerystreetpark.org.uk