A GIANT art installation at a Kidlington shopping centre has encouraged shoppers to celebrate and support local traders.

The facelift at the Kidlington Centre was created with the help of artist Andrew Painter, who started his career as a trainee animator for Walt Disney and worked on films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The vinyl design includes all the independent stores inside the centre and it is hoped it will give the site a more obvious identity.

Kidlington Centre marketing manager Mary Perry said: “We understand that it may take some getting used to but we feel that it is a bright, cheerful and innovative way of drawing people’s attention to what is inside our shopping centre.

“All our retailers are independent so there are no well known logos or signs to catch the eye.

“We felt this was our best way of coming up with something different and exciting.”

The new Kidlington Centre design work was managed by Oxford Designers & Illustrators Ltd (ODI) and installed by Vinyl Revolution.