A NIGHTCLUB is preparing to undergo an unusual make-over as graffiti artists get set to compete for the opportunity to decorate the nightspot’s bare walls.

Tired of the outdated and fading panels which currently adorn his club, Matt Gamon, manager of Area Nightclub, in The Parade, has taken the brave decision to open it up to the mercy of an, as yet unknown, team of spray painters.

Matt is launching a competition to find ten local graffiti artists who will then be given a blank canvas to paint a logo – with the only stipulation being the design includes the word “Area”.

However, rather than offering the winners the chance to design a work of art to be merely hung in his club, Matt is actually offering the walls of the club as the canvases.

He is asking graffiti artists to send in their proposed design on paper and the best ten will then be given an eight by nine foot section of the club to reproduce their idea.

Between the ten artists, the whole club will be completely decorated with unique murals.

Matt said: “We are trying to get the best of the best in the Watford area and to give the ten best artists the opportunity to fill three boards each.

“We will then have a vote on the best and hopefully it might open a career for them.

“I have never heard of someone being given the opportunity to spray paint a club.”

The winner of the ten will then have the chance to design flyers and posters for the club, as well as having a night, likely to be in December, dedicated to him or her.

The competition will be run by Claire Lundy, the promotions manager for the club, and she says she hopes the bold move will give the club a brand new look.

She said: “This is now how the club has looked for eight years.

“It is certainly going to be different, there is nothing else round here like it and I think we have always been the club that has been unlike other places.”

The idea of opening the club up for re-decoration has been six months in the planning.

And Matt says he got the idea after discussing the problems of tagging and unwanted graffiti with Liam Fitzgerald, from Watford Borough Council.

“He just came to me with the idea and said he wanted to get on top of graffiti,” Matt said.

“He asked if we could come up with a way for people to do it legally. And I think there will be lot of interest out there.

“In my head, I think the age profile is going to be 15 years old but they are not. I think we will get a lot of older artists who think it is creative art.

“I think we will get a vast number of different people.”

n Anyone who wants to enter should send their design, on paper, to Matt Gamon, Area, 46 The Parade, High Street, Watford, WD17 1AY, by October 10. Area nightclub is open to over 18s only.