Northampton theatre boss ‘disillusioned’ by vandals’ graffiti on main entrance as business tries to bounce back from pandemic

A Northampton theatre boss has been left ‘disillusioned’ by vandals who graffitied the premises as the business attempts to bounce back from the pandemic.

The Deco’s main entrance on the corner of Abington Street and Lower Mounts was vandalised in the early hours of Monday morning (August 30).

CCTV footage three people spray painting the main entrance shutter at 12.45am.

Staff members discovered the vandalism later that day and several employees had to spend hours cleaning the shutter.

Chief executive of The Deco, Kevin Roach, said: “It took us a couple of hours to clean it and it’s still not acceptable. It needs painting.

“It took them (the vandals) a couple of minutes to do it and in that time you can see people walking and driving past them.

“We’ve had graffiti before but nothing on this scale.

“It’s completely unacceptable to do it and it’s damaging to business especially as we have been closed for so long.

“I’m disillusioned as to why people have done this.”

Despite best efforts from staff, the cleaning did not completely remove the graffiti so the shutter will need to be repainted.

The business will have to fork out ‘a couple of hundred pounds’ for the repaint at a time when it is trying to recover from a difficult 18 months.

Kevin added: “It’s a family business so it comes out of our own pockets.

“But we can’t leave it as it is.

“Customers will not want to pay to come to a place that looks like that.”

The Deco also has a plaque by its entrance marking the two times The Beatles played at the venue. Grafitti was also left underneath this plaque.

Kevin has released the CCTV images and video footage in the hope that it will help catch the culprits.

Anyone who has anyone information about the incident can call Northamptonshire Police on 101 quoting incident number: 21000506285

The vandalism comes just a week after a campaign was launched to 'tidy up the town'. Dozens of volunteers joined in the big clean up last week and the town looked much tidier, however acts such of these go some way to undermining the good work done previously, especially as authorities and organisations urge members of the public to 'keep it tidy'.