Dragons' Den offers Peterborough street artist advice - and a job

A street artist who appeared on the BBC Dragons' Den came away with an offer of both professional advice - and a job.

Nathan Murdoch, 38, runs Street Arts Hire and has painted several murals in Peterborough, including tributes to Prodigy singer Keith Flint, and a Jude Bellingham portrait during the football World Cup.

He said he went on the show looking for further investment in his arts business, but all the Dragons agreed instead that he needed sound advice in order to expand.

Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett was so taken with Murdoch's work he offered the artist both one-to-one advice and a job painting the walls of his new London offices.

Murdoch appeared before the entrepreneurs accompanied by a large painting of a dragon - which he had created for the show.

He was asking for a £60,000 investment in return for a 10% share in his company.

The money, he said, would help employ a full-time role co-ordinating the work he and other artists were commissioned to do, as he said they could only currently fill about 60% of requests.

Murdoch is well known in Peterborough and in February he hosted an exhibition, Diesel Streets, celebrating more than two decades of graffiti and the city's street art culture.

The quality of his art stunned all five Dragons on the show, which aired on 27 August on BBC One.

Looking at the dragon painting brought in by Murdoch, Bartlett said: "You make me feel like a muggle just looking at that, thinking that a human being could do that versus what I can do. It's incredible."

Gary Neville said: "The artwork is absolutely stunning. You're taking home only £30,000 a year but you're a creative, you're a genius."

Pointing at the painting, which took Murdoch four hours to create, he said: "That's worth thousands of pounds", and quipped he would pay £5,000 for it.

Bartlett asked how much Murdoch charged a day, to which he replied: "About £600."

While none of them agreed to invest £60,000, all agreed he needed advice to help grow the business and suggested he could make far more money than he currently did.

Bartlett said he would give an hour of his time to sit with Murdoch and draw up a business plan.

He added: "I will pay you five times your day rate to do our new London HQ which has completely blank walls."

Murdoch had entered the den saying: "What have I got to lose?"

Leaving it with expert advice and a job offer, he said: "Although I didn't get the investment today, the advice I got was kind of what I needed to hear and overall it's been a great experience."

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