This is a gallery of the street-art and writing in the upper part of Kent Street (above Union Street) that was added during Hit The North 2026. There are new pieces by Chippy (ig), Koof (ig), and Hush (ig); the writing immediately below was not painted for HTN 2026 but is different from what was seen in 2025); the piece in the doorway might be by Felipe Risada (ig) and also not for HTN.
Phlegm (ig) – a Sheffield-based engraver and artist – was in town for Hit The North 2026 and painted this large piece in Corporation Street of spindly creatures teetering on the backs of the dead as they war with each other.
A dove takes flight and petals fall from roses in this new work by Fenz (web) for Hit The North 2026 on the shuttered offices of Rollins Insurance Brokers in Clarence Street.
This new piece – placing a cosmetological beauty in a jungle scene of exotic plants and a black panther – was painted for 2026’s Hit The North street-art festival by HMC (web) in Nelson Street (near Great Patrick Street).
“Sorry it was all for nothing – It’s on each and every one of us to save what our forefathers fought and died for.”
According to this Facebook post, the perceived threat being warned against here is “Communistic Islamification”. The “Islamification” is represented by a partial flag of Pakistan (an Islamic republic) being carried by yelling Caucasian figures in long black robes, advancing through a graveyard, in which an elderly man – perhaps King Charles – kneels in front of a headstone bearing a red Christian cross. That the cemetery is a military one is indicated by the medals on the mourner’s chest and the line from Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’, which provides a referent for the apology and the word “forefathers”.
How the “communistic” threat is conveyed is less clear.
Two men were cautioned by the police for displaying offensive material (Sunday Life). The Cloughfern Young Conquerors declined to play at the launch and family fun-day (Sunday Life), but the event went ahead (on May 8th) (youtube). Additional changes were made to the site in the days prior to the launch; see What Our Forefathers Fought And Died For.
Frankfurt-based artist Case Maclaim (ig) was one of the international guests for Hit The North 2026 and painted this upside-down face outside Lanyon Place train station.
Here are two pieces by artist Silver Formz (ig) painted for this year’s (2026) Hit The North. The clown above and immediately below is in Dunbar Street; the distorted bust is in Union Street.
There is a ‘blue plaque’ outside the Trident bar in Bangor’s High Street, to commemorate its role in the punk movement of the late 1970s (BBC | Guardian). The bands listed on this painted electrical box are Ruefrex (web), Stiff Little Fingers (web), Rudi (Something Hard), The Doubt (Irish Rock), The Androids (Spit), The Outcasts (Faster & Louder).
The bar is referenced in the SLF song “Alternative Ulster” (lyrics). Despite the claim that “there’s nothing for us in Belfast”, there is a plaque remembering the punk scene outside the Harp Bar – see Belfast Has The Reason.
By Cha Cha (ig), one building up from the Trident (Wolsey’s), High Street, Bangor
Cherry blossoms along Drumhirk Drive, Kilcooley, Bangor. For the UVF board to McCosh And Hamilton to the left of the wide shot, see The Pride O Oor Land Lie Cauld In The Clay.
Frodo holds “the one ring to rule them all” in a piece of Lords Of The Rings-inspired art by Jossie Pops (web) on the wall of Robinson’s Goldsmiths (web) in Prospect Road, Bangor.
Paddy Duffy Collection 