Following Wetherspoon’s £2.6m redevelopment of the grade II listed Georgian building, The Swan Hotel, in Leighton Buzzard, one local man, John Howlett (pictured), has been inspired to capture the hotel in sketches and paintings.
John, aged 80, has spent hours sitting on the Market Cross steps, drawing The Swan Hotel and its neighbours Barclays and HSBC – what he calls the ‘buildings of distinction’.
John has been drawing since he was 18, but a life of almost 50 years in the pharmaceutical business, as well as his early days in the army, put that hobby on hold. He took up art again when he retired, in 1996, completing an art & design course and starting a fi ne art degree at Hatfi eld University.
John told local newspaper the Leighton Buzzard Observer: “I am very impressed with The Swan Hotel. Wetherspoon has done a fantastic job and it really lifts the town.
“It is an historic item in town and it makes such a difference. I felt inspired to paint it.”