Opinion : What does the vandalism of the White Hart Street mural say about High Wycombe?

At the end of November 2019 a nice mural was painted on the hoardings around a building under construction in White Hart Street, High Wycombe.

As you can see from the picture below it was a nice piece of public artwork that brightened up an otherwise dull corner in the town centre.

The mural was painted by a local artist who also worked on the large chameleon mural on the disused Collins House building in Desborough Road, the recycling lion in the High Street and the large mural on the Brunel Engine Shed by the railway station.

When the mural was painted my good self wondered how long it would be before some rascal defaced it. Yours truly hasn’t been around White Hart Street recently however yesterday I ventured into that part of town.

Sadly it seems that some rotten scumbag has vandalised the mural by painting out the faces of the people, as can be seen in the picture at the top of the blog and the pictures below.

Further around the hoarding there is some graffiti in the same coloured paint which is presumably the work of the same person as can be seen in the picture below.

So what does the vandalism of the White Hart Street mural say about High Wycombe?

Well, in my opinion the vandalism of the White Hart Street mural sums up modern day Wycombe, if anything nice is done in the town it is destroyed and those who do the destruction are unlikely to be called to account for their crimes. I fear the town has been taken over by the unruly element while the decent citizens suffer at their mercy.

Of course it’s an outrage that the mural was needed in the first place as it’s only there because of the drab hoarding around a building the work on which is taking far too long to complete.

My good self liked the mural, indeed it brightened up the town and brought life to an otherwise dull corner. Indeed I often thought what could be painted on the other panels of the hoarding.

There was an outside chance that perhaps one night Banksy might turn up in our town and add his contribution to the other blank panels. However that dream has surely evaporated now the first mural has been defaced.

Of course if a world renowned street artist did turn up and make a positive contribution, being High Wycombe it’s likely they would be hunted down and prosecuted to the full penalty of law for their work however a low life scumbag who defaces a nice mural will probably get away with their destruction.

So just living the dream for a moment more, if a well known graffiti artist did turn up what should they paint on the blank panels? How about a mural of some policemen with truncheons drawn looking to arrest wrongdoers with a fleet of police vans in the background ready to take the arrested ones away?

At least we could then say there were always some officers of the law visible in the town centre looking to enforce the law which, in my opinion, would make a change.

What do you think?

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