Every September, Cheltenham trades its polite Regency poise for something far
bolder: walls burst into colour, lampposts whisper with paint-scented air, and the
town becomes a living, breathing gallery.
The Cheltenham Paint Festival, founded in 2017 by street artist Andy “Dice”
Davies, has grown into one of the UK’s most respected showcases of urban art. It
draws muralists, graffiti writers, and street artists from all corners of the world —
each bringing their own style, story, and splash of pigment.
By mid-September, the festival transforms the town. Walk along the Honeybourne
Line, and you’ll find an open-air corridor of giant portraits, surreal dreamscapes,
and playful cartoon scenes. Down side streets, doorways hide miniature works —
a fox peering from a drainpipe, a bouquet blooming from a brick crack.
This is not art trapped behind glass. It’s art you can touch, walk past, return to
again and again. In between, there are live painting sessions where visitors can
watch murals come to life brushstroke by brushstroke — sometimes over hours,
sometimes days. The artists chat easily with passers-by, swapping stories and
posing for photographs.
The festival is also a celebration of community. Families stroll with ice creams,
students lean against walls sketching their favourite pieces, and photographers
dart about trying to catch that perfect golden-hour shot
Andy Dice Davis, founder of the award-winning Cheltenham Paint Festival, has announced that this year's festival is postponed until 2026, due to the recent closure of North Place car park.
The 300-space car park closed, with just a week's notice, on Friday 21 February 2025 and was one of the town's largest open-air parking sites, with convenient access to the Brewery Quarter and High Street.
Earmarked for the construction of 147 homes, North Place was a key venue of the annual and much-loved Paint Festival, which attracts world-renowned street artists from around the globe.