The Grade II listed Madeira Lift has been defaced with bright pink lettering, leaving members of the public outraged. Residents have called the recent graffiti additions to the Madeira Terraces “disgusting.”
Jax Atkins, the resident behind the Save Madeira Terraces Campaign expressed her thoughts on the graffiti. Atkins wants to see the Madeira Terraces restored to their former glory, and says that “no one bothers to get rid of it so it just gets worse.”
Atkins said:
I was horrified when I saw it. People have graffitied the side of the building before but never the front, and in such bright colours.
I think it makes it look like people just don’t care what the city looks like. We have a lot of people visiting the city, including the mods attending the Quadrophenia reunion, and having them see this reflects badly on the city.
People will lose respect for their surroundings as they get more and more used to it. But it should not be there, especially not on listed buildings as the lift is.
Jax Atkins published a photograph of the graffiti on Facebook. The graffiti reads “keep blinking,” with the circled “A” said to be a symbol of anarchy.
Atkins added that the graffiti “will always return unless a heavy stance is taken against it.”
Brighton & Hove City Council plan to combat graffiti across the city. It says that “if there is offensive graffiti in public places, our street cleaning team will come and remove or paint over it.” The process is said to take 24 hours.
The relevant authority for graffiti removal responded to the Madeira Lift tagging, with a spokeswomen saying:
There’s no denying the council and the city faces an escalating problem in trying to tackle graffiti and it’s extremely disheartening to see much-loved heritage icons such as the Madeira Terrace Lift defaced in this way.
It’s especially galling to see this spot targeted again as members of the community removed graffiti from the lift not so long ago.
We are in the process of setting up a service where charities and community groups can access paint and supplies to help paint over graffiti and we will publish details on the council website as soon as they’ve been finalised.
She encourages anyone who wants to get involved or has ideas on how the graffiti issue can be tackled to send an email to [email protected].
Read more information on the Madeira Terrace restoration project here. Insight into Jax Atkins’ raffle as part of the Save Madeira Terraces Campaign can be found here.
