THE bus shelter which houses the striking street art images of Edward Elgar is undergoing a dramatic facelift.

Malvern Town Council is spending £5,000 to improve the Wells Road shelter beneath the Rosebank Gardens in the centre of Great Malvern.

The work is being carried out in a bid make it a more fitting home for pedestrians and the images of the classical composer created by Lee Morris and Tom Brown of We Love Art in March.

Town clerk Linda Blake said the work would create a gap between the existing wall and a new rendered wall so any moisture and salts can travel down into the drains.

"With all the publicity the paintings generated it drew attention to the fact that the paint was flaking away. It will allow it to look really nice and smart.

"If you keep painting it, it would only have a limited life before the salts and water would come through again."

Mrs Blake added once the work, which started on Tuesday and is expected to last for two weeks, is completed it would be decided how to protect the four images.

The work will also see the wall battened with tanalised battens and finished with masonry paint.

Mr Morris and Mr Brown were caught red handed by the police in the early hours of Sunday, March 9 when carrying out their 'Banksy' style work which they originally intended as an anonymous gift.

An auction of the original canvases and the stencil raised £2,880 to fund community arts activities in the town.