A WORCESTER shopping centre is being given a new lease of life thanks to the work of two enterprising young artists.

Georgina Gregory and Alex Hooper, who both studied fine art at Worcester Art and Design College, are painting a mural on a wall of the Lychgate Shopping Centre.

The girls were commissioned after centre manager, John Kendrick, saw the girls' work on another mural in a Worcester restaurant.

"Alex and I did a painting in the Souvlaki Greek Taverna, in Friar Street, and John Kendrick saw it and phoned us up," said Miss Gregory, 19, of Rainbow Hill. She is now studying theatrical make-up and costume at Worcester Art and Design College.

Miss Hooper, 20, of St John's, is taking a teaching degree in art at University College Worcester.

The mural, which adorns the wall outside Sainsbury's, is being painted in weather-proof emulsion and covers an area of about four feet by 12 feet. It depicts "typical" Worcester images such as the Cathedral, Royal Worcester Porcelain, Elgar, the River Severn and swans. By coincidence, Miss Gregory's great uncle, Ken Potts, was the artist who sculpted the Elgar statue in Worcester's High Street.