Colourful new signs have been set up to attract more people to a shopping parade in central Watford.

The signs, which cost about £3,500, have been placed beside the subway that runs underneath Beechen Grove, leading to shops in The Broadway, Queen’s Road.

They were paid for by the Queen’s Community Action Group, and donations from County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst’s locality budget and the Watford Mayor’s Fund.

Watford central ward councillor Helen Lynch said: “I’m absolutely thrilled with the signs. They look so much better. You cannot miss them and that was the whole point.

“We want to bring people into Queen’s Road and support the shops so no more go out of business and encourage new businesses to open up there.

“We’ve also had the subway repainted and this is just another one of our initiatives along with the Queen’s Road Summer Market to get new people to visit Queen’s Road and give it a new identity – something much more colourful and vibrant and somewhere more attractive to visit.

“If we can do that, hopefully we will get new people to take over the empty shops. The alternative is just to do nothing and it will end up with lots more empty shops.”

The Queen’s Road Summer Market will begin on Saturday, May 28 and run fortnightly until Saturday, September 3.

If you would like to find out more about having a market stall, email Helen Lynch: queensroadsummermarket@hotmail.com