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Graffiti depicts pub history as restoration starts

Andrew TurnerNorfolk
Andrew Turner/BBC A pink hoarding with silver lettering depicting The Iron Duke by Zaks. Images bleeding from elsewhere in the hoarding are visible on the extremes of this picture.Andrew Turner/BBC
Andrew Turner/BBC The Lacons falcon is painted on the hoarding, captured along with bottles of Lacons beers. There is also black and white paintings of brewery buildings.Andrew Turner/BBC
The artists identified five themes about the Iron Duke, which will be operated by American diner chain Zaks
Lacons Brewery designed the pub in the Art Deco theme, depicting the company's distinct blue and orange falcon logo

Graffiti artists have used hoardings to tell the story of a historical pub that is undergoing a £2m restoration.

The Iron Duke in Great Yarmouth closed in 2008 and was threatened with demolition.

Local people painted a mural on hoarding at the site, which will eventually be reopened by American diner chain Zaks.

Darren Barker, executive manager of Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust which is overseeing the construction, said: "It's nice to have that visual reference while the work's going on."

Debby Besford Three men stand by the hoarding outside the Iron Duke pub. The hoarding is painted white with three herring painted in blue depicted.Debby Besford
Ruben Cruz, of Reprezent Project, left, with Darren Barker of the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust, and artist Mark Tanti, who created the design

Local brewery Lacons started building the Art Deco structure in 1938, but work stopped because of World War Two.

However the Ministry of Defence requested the bar be opened to serve troops - with building work not completed until after the war.

Mr Barker said restoring the Iron Duke was the organisation's main project and was really important.

The work is being funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, for a faithful restoration and re-use as a pub and restaurant.

Andrew Turner/BBC The Iron Duke, with fencing in the foreground. The building is two storeys with many rounded features, terracotta mouldings and curved windows, which are boarded up.Andrew Turner/BBC
Andrew Turner/BBC The interior of the Iron Duke, showing some builders' materials and doors stacked against the bar. Paint has peeled from the ceilings.Andrew Turner/BBC
The Iron Duke was built by Lacons Brewery of Great Yarmouth, which heavily relied on the Art Deco style during its phase of building new pubs
Inside, the Art Deco theme continues with curved features and square panelling on the doors, and curved windows

Ruben Cruz, founder of Reprezent Project, said many members of the community helped paint the mural, which had been sketched out by artist Mark Tanti, who's tag is Demograffix.

Mr Cruz added: "The mural is about the five elements of the Iron Duke.

"There was a consultation with the community during the funding bid when we put the case study together for the Heritage Lottery Fund.

People told us about the battleship Iron Duke; that they started building it before the war and had to stop and then it was finished after the war and that's why they chose the name.

"There's also the postcards from the 80s and 90s when the pub was still popular, and there's the herring, celebrating the history of the town, and the falcon, the logo of Lacons, the brewery that built it."

GYPT A CGI drawing of the Iron Duke which has red bricks, pillars and large windows. There are CGI images of people standing outside and parking bays.GYPT
The preservation trust wants to open The Iron Duke next year

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