Interviews

Brightening up Lancaster Road

Shop owner Kerrie Bullen has hung dozens of hand-painted flowerpots from bollards to help give the area a ‘village feel’

Kerrie Bullen outside her shop Boho Flo, in Lancaster Road
Kerrie Bullen outside her shop Boho Flo, in Lancaster Road

The owner of an Enfield gift shop has made it her “mission” to transform her high street using handmade flowerpots, ribbons and other colourful decorations.

Kerrie Bullen runs Boho Flo, a shop in Lancaster Road where 80% of the products stocked are handmade, with many gifts being stitched, painted or crafted by Kerrie herself. Work produced by local artists are also sold in the shop.

Anyone passing by Lancaster Road recently, even if it’s just on a bus, can’t have failed to notice the added bursts of colour that now adorn bollards, lampposts and other street furniture along the road, either side of Boho Flo.

Kerrie explained: “Lancaster Road is a dreadful road. So I am on a mission to brighten it up.”

Dozens of bollards in the street now boast hand-painted flowerpots containing pansies and other colourful flowers hung from them; lampposts are adorned with red, white and blue ribbons to mark the Queen’s jubilee; and there are even some yellow, orange and pink bicycle wheels now attached to guard railings at a pedestrian crossing.

“When I took the shop on, it was something I wanted to do,” said Kerrie, of her desire to improve Lancaster Road. “Now all the flowers are out people have been coming in [to the shop] and thanking me. It is nice to be appreciated.”

Kerrie hasn’t done all the work herself; she runs regular workshops at Boho Flo, where some of the decorations have been put together.

“People have said that it is giving the area a ‘village feel’ or a ‘community feel’ which is exactly what I set out to achieve.”

Kerrie’s ideas don’t stop here, however. In future she is looking at creating some street mosaics and artworks with the help of local artists.

One of the hand-painted flower pots now brightening up Lancaster Road
One of the hand-painted flower pots now brightening up Lancaster Road

A Dispatch reader, who nominated Kerrie as an ‘Enfield Community Hero’, said: “It makes me smile in these depressing times.”

Enfield Community Heroes

This article is the latest in our ‘Enfield Community Heroes’ series, sponsored by Edmonton Green Shopping Centre. Dispatch readers are welcome to nominate their own local hero – someone who has gone above and beyond to help support the local community. Simply email your nomination to [email protected].


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