New mural for Baillie Street Quarter

The Baillie Street Quarter of Rochdale has benefited from a new mural by artist Dave Gee – AKA Dave Draws.

An historic street with several Grade-II listed buildings, Baillie Street is home to a variety of independent shops, bars and restaurants, plus several ginnels including Bull Brow, The Butts Avenue and The Bank steps.

The area was rebranded last year due to its unique sense of place, including new signage, colourful planters and relocating commercial bins.

Now the large-scale mural by Dave Draws – of the area itself – has been drawn up and added to the quarter, further cementing its individual identity.

Dave describes himself as a “freelance illustrator, mural artist and serial map doodler.” His trademark is his doodle maps that combine his unique doodle style with cartoonish illustrations creating a map of a city.

 

 

Paul Ambrose, Rochdale BID manager, said: "It has been a great experience working with Dave to create the Bailie Street Quarter doodle map. We’ve already spotted visitors to the area exploring the map trying to locate the local landmarks and businesses which help to give the Baillie Street Quarter its unique sense of place.

"Working with the independent businesses which lie within the Baillie Street Quarter, we will continue to carry out a series of small scale interventions which will help to define the identity of the area and improve the visitor experience."

Dave said: "It was an honour to be asked to illustrate the Baillie Street Quarter and to highlight all the good work that is being done in the area.

"When I was given the brief for the design, I was very impressed with how much work had gone into making the area a vibrant and colourful place to visit. The selection of shops, pubs and restaurants is very impressive for such a small area.

"Overall it was great fun to draw and hopefully visitors to the area will enjoy the artwork."

Read more: Large mural of Rochdale transforms corridor wall at St Vincent'sPublished: 24 January 2022