Hereford Butter Market wall mural project

The third years have been tasked with producing 6 large wall murals to go in the Butter market, which is a old dairy and poultry market in the town center of Hereford, the murals are possibly going to go on wooden panels which will then fix to the walls which make up some of the stalls in the market. 
The first week back to uni we took a visit to the butter market so we could gather some information on the place in general, i took photos of mostly the old sign art and some of the stalls i found visually interesting. The place was certainly stuck in the past, but i felt that only added to it's charm, though i can see where and why it needed some work done. The mayor of Hereford who has requested the artwork intends to bring a younger group of people in the market to view the art and visit the stalls, as well as keeping the current patrons and stall owners happy, this won't be an easy task, the challenge will be finding a middle ground between contemporary and traditional values and visual language. 

A photo of one of the walls which will eventually be covered in a large mural, we will have to take into consideration the owners of the stalls around the walls who have some of their wares on the actual walls ( as seen in photo ) perhaps even incorporate them into the design? 

 Some examples of old sign typography, although stylistically the text looks old fashioned we learned that some of them where painted quite recently, which shows that traditional values are still very much favored in the market. I like the way these signs incorporate small illustrations around and within them.

 An overview of part of the market, some of the stalls are well spaced out and often leave large empty spaces between them, in the photo we are all standing in quite a large vacant space.

A sweet stall where the jars of sweet are all on display on shelves, making a very colourful and pleasant visual. i would like it some of the colours and sweet motifs made they're way into one of the murals.  

bric a brac stall. 

The fruit and vegetable stalls that where situated towards the back of the market had some very interesting colour combinations with the way they had arranged their produce, i am very keen to incorporate food into the murals because the essence and history of the market is food, people will go there primarily to buy food, from fish and meat to fruit and veg, so this i feel should be taken into account when planning and designing the murals. 

Some more examples of sign art, i particularly like the red and yellow "Hillman's" sign because it's interesting use of different typography styles and the way it have matched the colours, it's very striking. learning the history of this florists stall was very interesting also, it has had a place in the market for almost 100 years and most of the owners had worked there for a good chunk of their lives. i find it interesting to hear how the market is such a big part of some peoples lives and livelihood.

So this the main part of my first hand visual research in the market, i found it very useful to visit and look around for the first time in years, just to see how much has changed and what has stayed the same. 
These photos will be central in helping to inform me whist trying to generate ideas and producing images for these wall murals.