Meet the man behind the impressive new mural of Ringo Starr - Liverpool artist John Culshaw

A massive mural of Ringo Starr has been unveiled on the side of his old local pub in Toxteth, The Empress.

Liverpool artist John Culshaw is the man behind the colourful artwork, which towers from the pavement to the roof.

The artist said: “Initially, it was going to be a Beatles themed mural; it wasn’t going to be just Ringo, but with his connection to the area, we went with him.

“However, we still wanted to be as bright and as vibrant as possible, so I researched what we could put in there. We decided to go with a cartoon of the yellow submarine and the octopus as well.”

A painter decorator by trade, John had done work on the inside of the pub before he spoke to the owner about creating a mural on the external wall of the property.

The scale of the artwork is so massive that although when next to it you can appreciate some of the details and John’s skilled artistry, it’s only from a distance you can truly appreciate the piece.

In total, it took around two weeks for John to complete the mural.

The elements didn’t always create the most straightforward working conditions, though, after back-to-back storms hit the city.

John said: “It is a bit of a wind tunnel. To be honest with you, the higher up you go, the wind isn’t as bad at the top, but we did have some really windy days where there was a lot of movement on the crane.”

John said he’s had positive reactions to his work, and as we did the interview, several people stopped to congratulate him.

He said: “I’ve always just done it for myself. When you get a pat on the back, it’s nice, but I think a little more at the minute about how people will react to my work.

“It’s not just mine, it's public work, so everyone’s going to see it. People live in the street, so I need to think about how they'll react to it. Luckily for me, everyone’s liked it."