Tag: Bash Street Kids

6730. St Werburghs tunnel (474)

Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

So many of the combination pieces painted in Bristol leave me wondering who the painted character might be portraying (there are often modern cultural references to cartoon productions of the 1970s to now), but every once in a while the character is one I am familiar with, and this is one of those moments. The character in this Haka piece is Percival Proudfoot Plugsley or Plug member of the Bash Street Kids from the children’s comic Beano.

Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

Indeed, this is not the first time Haka has incorporated Plug into one of his pieces and other members of the comic strip. The letters are classic Haka letters, nicely overlapping and filled with two colour shades and some yellow decorations. Some nice shout-outs too, including the ever-present tribute to CK1.

Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023

5935. M32 Cycle path (258)

Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024

It was a great pleasure to meet Haka, alongside Inkie and Sepr, when he was painting this piece as part of a collaborative wall last month. Although Haka had pretty much finished when I caught up with him, he did subsequently add another character to the right of the piece.

Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024

Those familiar with Haka’s work will recall that he tends to paint combination pieces with his customary letters accompanied by characters from children’s books, shows or comics. When I was a kid, there were three popular children’s comic, Beano, Dandy and Beezer, and these characters come from one or other – I think that they are from the series Bash Street Kids, although the modern revised version, not the one I grew up with. The two characters here are Wilfred and Danny.

Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024

There is mischief in this piece, with a bright and vibrant HAKA and the cheerful duo. I cannot think of a more appropriate place to paint these characters than in this spot, which is often frequented by real-life Bash Street Kids. Great stuff.