Cuthbert House Mural

Newcastle has a long history of musical excellence from “Geordie” Ridley, through The Animals, Dire Straits and Lindisfarne to the current star, Sam Fender. Some of these stars have been celebrated with Blue Plaques or the reproduction of their lyrics at the Spanish City, but a new artwork has been installed in Newcastle that celebrates the whole of the North East's musical heritage.

Cuthbert House on City Road is an unassuming 1970s Brutalist office building, accessed via subways beneath the surrounding road network, but it has recently been brightened by a new mural created through the work of The Arches project.

The Arches is a youth project based in Gateshead who focus on training and education for under 18s through creative engagement, specifically around the rave, rap and graffiti scene. The new mural, created along with a number of other community groups, covers the walls of the open space beneath Cuthbert House and links to other recent urban art gallery pieces that have been installed in the surrounding subways.

It is a huge, striking piece full of bold blocks of colour and musical notation, though we don't know if the musical notes shown are taken from an actual piece of music! It certainly brightens the space and makes it a far more cheerful place to pass through.