Tiger mural to bring spirit of Diwali year-round

A corner of Belgrave is getting a Diwali makeover

A mural is being created to turn an unloved corner of Leicester's Golden Mile into a spotlight for Diwali celebrations.

A design depicting twin tigers ridden by two women in traditional South Asian dress is being daubed onto the side of a four-storey building at the corner of Doncaster Road and Melton Road.

It is hoped the street art will be finished by this weekend and in time for a programme of celebrations in the city leading up to Diwali titled We Bring Light.

Jiten Anand, executive director of arts organisation Inspirate, hopes the artwork will "transform the landscape" and become "one of the most iconic landmarks in Belgrave for years to come".

The mural has been two years in the making, said Leicester-born Mr Anand, with artist Shiraaz Ali's design aiming to be "bold, playful, colourful and rooted in storytelling".

Inspirate is organising a programme to celebrate the Festival of Light

The location is a "hot spot" in the centre of Leicester's celebrations which stretch back more than four decades and are reputed to be the largest of their kind outside of India.

But Mr Anand said the mural would be a "legacy of Diwali celebrations" to mark the story of migration, settlement and of home year-round.

Mr Ali, from Bradford, said: "The design took quite a few drafts and iterations to really capture the main message, to shine your light.

"It's telling everyone to embrace life and shine their own individual light, whatever that is - cooking, baking, drawing, being an astronaut, anything.

"It's about symbolising the power of the tiger, the divine feminine symbolism in Hinduism, and the patterns that are found on Belgrave Road and within our culture."

A young and and an old woman will be depicted riding tigers

While the mural will be a new addition alongside a programme of events for We Bring Light, including a documentary, lantern displays by schoolchildren, a city-wide postcard campaign, and the creation of a digital archive, the 2025 celebrations have been scaled back.

Leicester City Council plans to illuminate the Golden Mile and close it to traffic on 20 October to allow people to celebrate the Festival of Light but there will be no fireworks or staged entertainment, as in previous years.

A corner of Belgrave is being given a makeover

Mr Anand said: "Despite the celebrations not being at full scale this year our heritage project will keep Diwali alive and keep it shining.

"It means so much to local communities here. I think there's a real spirit in Belgrave in terms of what Leicester represents.

"People have been curious, they've been asking us questions, they're really pleased that it's a mural that will represent Diwali, that represents their culture, the people that live here."