Yorkshire shopkeepers star in Sir Peter Blake’s latest creation

NOT MANY people can share a claim to fame with the likes of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, and Marlon Brando.
Sir Peter Blake's High Street Heroes artwork.
Below, Carol Evenden at Cottingham's Duffill's Greengrocers, and Sir Peter with his works.Sir Peter Blake's High Street Heroes artwork.
Below, Carol Evenden at Cottingham's Duffill's Greengrocers, and Sir Peter with his works.
Sir Peter Blake's High Street Heroes artwork. Below, Carol Evenden at Cottingham's Duffill's Greengrocers, and Sir Peter with his works.

But two Yorkshire shopkeepers can now claim to join a select line up of stars to be given the Sir Peter Blake treatment, after they were featured in a new artwork by the creator of the cover design for The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album.

The legendary British pop artist paid tribute to independent shopkeepers in his new piece, High Street Heroes, commissioned to celebrate Small Business Saturday, a campaign to highlight small businesses and encourage people to shop local.

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Like with his famous Sgt Pepper design, Sir Peter combined photographic portraits of 61 shopkeepers with the tools of their trades to create the new piece, which is available to download for free online.

Sir Peter Blakeâ¬"s new work, called HIGH STREET HEROES, has been commissioned by American Express, founder of Small Business Saturday in the U.S. and an active supporter of the grassroots campaign in the UK, to shine the spotlight on the nationâ¬"s small businesses. It features 61 shopkeepers holding the tools of their trades from 40 different small businesses from across the country, including a butcher in Newcastle, a baker in Brighton and a cheese maker in Edinburgh. For the first time in his career, Blake ⬠made famous for his sleeve design on The Beatlesâ¬" Grammy Award winning album Sgt Pepperâ¬"s Lonely Hearts Club Band ⬠has released the celebratory artwork online as a free downloadable image with the aim of encouraging the public to show and share their support for the Small Business Saturday movement.Sir Peter Blakeâ¬"s new work, called HIGH STREET HEROES, has been commissioned by American Express, founder of Small Business Saturday in the U.S. and an active supporter of the grassroots campaign in the UK, to shine the spotlight on the nationâ¬"s small businesses. It features 61 shopkeepers holding the tools of their trades from 40 different small businesses from across the country, including a butcher in Newcastle, a baker in Brighton and a cheese maker in Edinburgh. For the first time in his career, Blake ⬠made famous for his sleeve design on The Beatlesâ¬" Grammy Award winning album Sgt Pepperâ¬"s Lonely Hearts Club Band ⬠has released the celebratory artwork online as a free downloadable image with the aim of encouraging the public to show and share their support for the Small Business Saturday movement.
Sir Peter Blakeâ¬"s new work, called HIGH STREET HEROES, has been commissioned by American Express, founder of Small Business Saturday in the U.S. and an active supporter of the grassroots campaign in the UK, to shine the spotlight on the nationâ¬"s small businesses. It features 61 shopkeepers holding the tools of their trades from 40 different small businesses from across the country, including a butcher in Newcastle, a baker in Brighton and a cheese maker in Edinburgh. For the first time in his career, Blake ⬠made famous for his sleeve design on The Beatlesâ¬" Grammy Award winning album Sgt Pepperâ¬"s Lonely Hearts Club Band ⬠has released the celebratory artwork online as a free downloadable image with the aim of encouraging the public to show and share their support for the Small Business Saturday movement.

Among the bakers, booksellers and fishmongers pictured are Cottingham greengrocer Carol Evenden, manager of Duffill’s Greengrocer, and chef Jim Key, from Leeds steakhouse and cocktail bar Rare.

Both were picked to take part by American Express, who founded Small Business Saturday in America in 2010 and brought the event to the UK for the first time last year. It takes place on the first Saturday in December, less than two weeks away.

Miss Evenden, who has worked at Duffill’s for 25 years, didn’t know of Sir Peter’s involvement with the project until the photographer came to the shop to take her picture.

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“I’m still in shock about it,” she said. “It’s lovely to think of Sir Peter creating the piece.”

Legendary British pop artist Sir Peter Blake has paid tribute to independent shopkeepers from Yorkshire in a new artwork released in the build-up to Small Business Saturday (6 December). Pictured is Carol Evenden from Duffillâ¬"s Greengrocer in Cottingham is featured amongst 40 small businesses holding the tools of their trade. Sir Peter Blakeâ¬"s new work called HIGH STREET HEROES has been commissioned by American Express, founder of Small Business Saturday in the U.S. and an active supporter of the grassroots campaign in the UK, to shine the spotlight on the nationâ¬"s small businesses and celebrate their importance to the national economy and local communities.Legendary British pop artist Sir Peter Blake has paid tribute to independent shopkeepers from Yorkshire in a new artwork released in the build-up to Small Business Saturday (6 December). Pictured is Carol Evenden from Duffillâ¬"s Greengrocer in Cottingham is featured amongst 40 small businesses holding the tools of their trade. Sir Peter Blakeâ¬"s new work called HIGH STREET HEROES has been commissioned by American Express, founder of Small Business Saturday in the U.S. and an active supporter of the grassroots campaign in the UK, to shine the spotlight on the nationâ¬"s small businesses and celebrate their importance to the national economy and local communities.
Legendary British pop artist Sir Peter Blake has paid tribute to independent shopkeepers from Yorkshire in a new artwork released in the build-up to Small Business Saturday (6 December). Pictured is Carol Evenden from Duffillâ¬"s Greengrocer in Cottingham is featured amongst 40 small businesses holding the tools of their trade. Sir Peter Blakeâ¬"s new work called HIGH STREET HEROES has been commissioned by American Express, founder of Small Business Saturday in the U.S. and an active supporter of the grassroots campaign in the UK, to shine the spotlight on the nationâ¬"s small businesses and celebrate their importance to the national economy and local communities.

Duffill’s prides itself on maintaining strong relationships with customers, and is part of a thriving set of independent businesses in the East Yorkshire village.

“Providing a personal service is the best thing about being a small business,” Miss Evenden said. “Customers see the same friendly faces every time they shop. They get to know us, we get to know them, and as a result they trust us and our products.”

John Quinlan, general manager at Rare said the restaurant was “really honoured” to be involved in a project with Sir Peter. The restaurant sources local produce despite being less than a year old, has thrived, something it puts down to personal service.

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He added: “We are a small business. Its imperative to have good contact with our customers, every customer is important to us and the customer is the most important part of our industry.”

The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover designer Sir Peter Blake..The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover designer Sir Peter Blake..
The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover designer Sir Peter Blake..

Last year, Small Business Saturday generated £468 million for small businesses across the UK. High Street Heroes aims to encourage the public to show and share their support for small business by downloading and displaying the image.

Sir Peter said small shops and the “Great British Shopkeeper” had been at the forefront of British culture for hundreds of years.

“The notion of a Nation of Shopkeepers is embedded in our folklore and the wonderful variety of today’s independent shops as well as the character that small businesses bring to a local area make them an ideal subject matter for modern pop art,” he said. “Having worked at a local butcher at the age of 13 I have also experienced the dedication and hard work that goes into running a small shop. It is for all these reasons that I am thrilled to be lending my support to a campaign that champions small businesses.”

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SIR PETER Blake won a Grammy award for his work on the cover art for The Beatle’s 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.

Often referred to as the Godfather of the British pop-art scene in the late fifties and sixties, he became a CBE in 1983 and received a knighthood for his services to Art in 2002.

He also designed the cover for the original Band Aid single Do They Know It’s Christmas? in 1984, Paul Weller’s Stanley Road album in 1995 and the 2006 Oasis greatest hits album Stop the Clocks.

High Street Heroes is available to download for free from amexshopsmall.co.uk up until December 6, the date of this year’s Small Business Saturday.