Eight artworks by local artists now fill windows from the Leisure Centre to West Herts College, paid for with £30,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Fund money. Every stop, artist and address, and how the animations work.
Eight large artworks by artists from Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and Abbots Langley have gone up in windows and on hoardings between the Leisure Centre and West Herts College. Each one carries a QR code that plays an animated version of the picture on your phone. The trail is free and is open now.
It is called Street Stories, and it is the first Hemel Hempstead edition of a programme that has already run in Leicester, Colchester, Stirling and Wolverhampton. Hemel Hempstead BID, the town centre business group, paid for it with £30,000 from the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and delivered it with Dacorum Borough Council and the design agency Arch Creative (Hemel Hempstead BID).
The eight stops
The trail’s own page lists each location with a map link. In route order:
| Stop | Artwork | Artist | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Self Reflection | Eloise Pilbeam | Hemel Hempstead Leisure Centre, Park Road, HP1 1JS |
| 2 | Skyline Stories | Wonky Hobo | Nationwide, Unit C1, Riverside Shopping Centre, HP1 1BT |
| 3 | It Was Meant to Be a Pit Stop | Child Of | The Roundhouse, Marlowes, HP1 1ST |
| 4 | The Magic Roundabout | Katharine Harper (BigDayDoodles) | The Roundhouse, Marlowes, HP1 1ST |
| 5 | The Garden Getaway | James Lark | The Roundhouse, Marlowes, HP1 1ST |
| 6 | Morning Freedom / Mapped Trails | Amy Huitson | The Forum, Marlowes, HP1 1DN |
| 7 | Triptych | Hélène Engrand | The Library at The Forum, HP1 1DN |
| 8 | Old Town / The Water Gardens | Mary Casserley | West Herts College, Marlowes, HP1 1HD |
Source: Street Stories, Hemel Hempstead trail page.
Who made them
The BID says priority went to artists born, living or working in Hemel Hempstead and the surrounding area. Each was asked to respond to one of five themes: connections and community; a vibrant destination; wellbeing and a town in a park; roots and heritage; and Hemel in 2050. The trail page gives a short profile of each:
- Eloise Pilbeam teaches art at JFK Secondary School and paints from the Old Town
- Wonky Hobo is a Hemel Hempstead photographer
- Child Of is a community interest company founded in 2022 that runs creative recovery programmes; the piece credits textile artist Michele Herbert
- Katharine Harper, who works as BigDayDoodles, is a Hemel Hempstead illustrator and photographer
- James Lark is a fine artist and founder of OhMyArt in Abbots Langley
- Amy Huitson holds a master’s degree in fine art
- Hélène Engrand is a French-born artist based in Berkhamsted
- Mary Casserley is based in Tring
The BID advertised the commissions in October 2025, offering £200 per artwork with applications closing on 7 December 2025. That call said the installed artworks would stay in place “until the unit has been let”, and quoted BID manager Nicola Wooldridge: “This project will transform vacant units into something positive and creative” (Street Stories, call for artists, 22 October 2025).
In the event, most of the eight sit on buildings that are very much in use: the leisure centre, the council’s Forum and library, the college and a Nationwide branch. The Roundhouse, which carries three of them, is Community Action Dacorum’s hub. The BID’s page describes the choice as “spaces already woven into everyday community life”.
How the animations work
Each installation has a QR code in its corner. Scanning it opens the animation in your phone’s browser, so no download is needed. Arch Creative, which produced the animations, also publishes a Street Stories AR app for iPhone and Android that is linked from the trail page. The organisers ask people to watch out for other pedestrians while they stand and look.
Neither the BID nor the trail page gives a launch date or an end date. The works are listed as viewable now, and the BID has photographed them in place.
What it means for you
- It costs nothing, and the whole route is about a ten-minute walk down Marlowes from the Leisure Centre to the college, so it fits into a shopping trip or the school run.
- Half term starts on 26 October, and this is one of the few things in the town centre that is new, outdoors and free. Our October half term page has the rest.
- If you run a shop with an empty neighbour, the BID’s original pitch was for vacant units. Its contact details are on its website.
More on what is on in town is on our What’s On pages, and the longer list of things to do in Hemel Hempstead.
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