A MURAL depicting iconic Colchester Britpop band Blur in a car park stairwell has been painted over sparking outrage. 

The popular mural in Osborne Street car park is one of a number of murals which have been painted over. 

The mural, which had been in the stairwell for decades, depicted Blur's Best Of album. 

Alan Munson, 60, has frequently taken pictures with his two sons, Harry, 19, and Charlie, 16, at the mural.  

Gazette: Family - Alan's sons Harry, 19, and Charlie, 16 in front of the muralFamily - Alan's sons Harry, 19, and Charlie, 16 in front of the mural (Image: Alan Munson)

Alan said: "The mural has been intrinsically linked to the growth of my children as we have on occasion taken photos of my boys in front of the mural through the years.

"It always brightens our shopping trips as mum, dad and now our boys are Blur fans and enjoy the fact that Blur went to our son's school and 6th form college.

"My son Harry plays bass in local band Greebo, whose influences include Blur.

"The St Mary’s car park murals have plastic protectors added to stop them from deteriorating, why wasn’t the same done here?"

Osborne Street car park is owned and looked after by NCP.

An NCP spokesman said: "As a business we have to re-decorate internal parts of the property as part of our lease agreement, the murals have been a lovely asset but have been there for a long time and we were needing to repaint. 

"We are sorry to customers who enjoyed looking at these murals over the years, and we hope they understand that we do need to carry out redecoration works as part of our business agreements."

But Mr Munson said: "When you have spent time in and around your town or city you create memories in all sorts of places and for different reasons.

"The mural was one of those special locations which created special family memories.

"Others may have enjoyed this hidden away piece of cultural pop art for other reasons, so when something happens like the mural being erased it’s so sad that we are not able to create more memories or memorable photos."

A Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star mural in tribute to children’s poem writer Jane Taylor who wrote it in Colchester, was also removed in the car park revamp.