A social worker who lives on ‘Rainbow Road’ of painted terraced houses has slammed the miserly housing association that owns her home as they didn’t let her join in the trend.

Hopewell Street has always been two sad rows of red brick terraced houses, which was slowly declining until it earned the title of the worst place to live in Gloucester.

People started calling it Hopeless Street with its mountains of litter, anti-social behaviour and poor housing conditions – until the houses got a splash of colour which residents say ‘brought pride to the area’.

But 24-year-old social worker Becca Rogers, who is known for her rainbow coloured hair, is disappointed that hers is one of the few houses in the street that haven’t been given a rainbow paintjob, saying: ‘My place looks very boring compared to most of the other houses.’

‘But it’s owned by a housing association and sadly they didn’t agree to it being painted in bright colours.’

Social worker Becca Rogers, 24, who lives on ‘Rainbow Road’ of painted terraced houses in Gloucester has slammed the miserly housing association that owns her home as they didn’t let her join in the trend

Tasha Frootko and partner Stuart Doust, have transformed Hopewell Street by painting the houses bright colours in Gloucester

Hopewell Street has always been two sad rows of red brick terraced houses, which was slowly declining until it earned the title of the worst place to live in Gloucester

Artist and landlady Tash Frootko, 48, had already painted houses in the West Country city in her favourite bold colours

‘I think it gives the street a seaside feel – even the seagulls nesting on some of the roofs seem to like it,’ Becca added.

Artist and landlady Tash Frootko, 48, had already painted houses in the West Country city in her favourite bold colours.

But Hopewell Street was a major project and with funding from the Government’s Levelling Up scheme and a lot of hard work and imagination its houses have been transformed into Rainbow Street.

Residents stepped out into the June sunshine to admire the bright pinks, blues, greens and yellows that have covered up the drab red brick.

They were able to choose the colour they wanted before Tash and her team of painters arrived a month ago.

White-bearded Joe Wyndenbach, 86, has lived in the street for 48 hours and rarely socialised because of his poor hearing and eyesight.

The retired lorry driver said: ‘I love popping out into the street now, it’s so colourful. I chose blue paint to match my eyes.

‘I didn’t go out much before but just look at the colours – they’re a sight for sore eyes.’

Little Denisa Cickova, four, now lives in a bright purple house because it’s her favourite colour and her mum, also Denisa, let her choose.

Denisa said: ‘We’ve lived here for five years – I can’t believe how much it’s changed. My little girl is very pleased we now live in a purple house.’

White-bearded Joe Wyndenbach, 86, has lived in the street for 48 hours and rarely socialised because of his poor hearing and eyesight – but now he loves popping out into the street

Little Denisa Cickova, four, now lives in a bright purple house because it’s her favourite colour and her mum, also Denisa, let her choose

Retired trucker Alan Platt, 66, who was visiting friends, said: ‘They used to call it Hopeless Street,but look at it now – they should rechristen it Hopeful Street’

Opposite recently widowed Dave Mason, 86, only had his windows painted bright green, leaving the masonry cream in tribute to his late wife

Mother-of-two Libe Aktei, 30, said: ‘I love it, the colourful houses have improved the area – and we didn’t have to pay for it

Labbe Atike, 6, sticking her head out the window in the newly green house in Hopewell Street

Opposite recently widowed Dave Mason, 86, only had his windows painted bright green, leaving the masonry cream.

Retired engineer Dave said: ‘I left it cream in tribute to my wife Elizabeth who chose it when we had the house painted a year before she died.

‘But I’m delighted with my bright new windows and the whole street looks great.

‘It’s only been a few weeks but people have got so much more pride in the area now.’

The houses, built in 1901, are homes to many ethnic minority families and 70 different languages are spoken within the square miles that Hopewell street stands in.

Mother-of-two Libe Aktei, 30, said: ‘I love it, the colourful houses have improved the area – and we didn’t have to pay for it.’

Nigeria-born taxi driver Yomi Ologunja, 63, had his windows painted and reckons the whole street looks ‘beautiful’.

He said: ‘It was just the windows for me, I wanted the house painted in dark brown and that was the one colour they didn’t have.’

There’s even talk that the 63 painted houses will go up in value and Hopewell Street could become the place to live.

Retired trucker Alan Platt, 66, who was visiting friends, said: ‘They used to call it Hopeless Street,but look at it now – they should rechristen it Hopeful Street.

‘They should roll it out in other cities. it’s changed people, everyone is much more positive. It’s all thanks to Tash, she’s a real force of nature.’

Residents stepped out into the June sunshine to admire the bright pinks, blues, greens and yellows that have covered up the drab red brick

The houses, built in 1901, are homes to many ethnic minority families and 70 different languages are spoken within the square miles that Hopewell street stands in

Tash, an Essex-girl who moved to Gloucestershire 24 years ago, gave Mail Online a tour of her handiwork in the June sunshine

Tash, an Essex-girl who moved to Gloucestershire 24 years ago, gave Mail Online a tour of her handiwork in the June sunshine.

She said: ‘We want to create new landmarks and visitor attraction in the town. Our rainbow street is unique, there’s nowhere quite like it in the world.

‘I’ve done other streets in Gloucester and until now I’ve self-funded, no one was interested in giving me any money.

‘But funding can through from the levelling u together scheme because Hopewell Street has been identified as one of the most deprived parts of Gloucestershire.

‘I first came here in 2021 and started to tackle the litter, fly-tipping, and anti-social behaviour – it was chaos.

‘I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved with all the colours and creativity – it makes me feel like Mary Poppins.

‘It’s giving people hope and restoring the pride in the area as well as uniting the people who live here.’

Comfort zone: A bouclé and rattan chair, £695 (oliverbonas.com)

Fashion in clothing is one of the key influences for the way we dress our homes. 

The process is usually rapid, with a trend making the transition into décor within a season, as has happened this year with 1970s chic.

But bouclé — which was invented in the 19th century and popularised by Coco Chanel in the 1930s — is only now stepping into the limelight.

This fabric’s name derives from the French boucle (curled) — and it’s racing up the decor style charts, thanks to a new appreciation of its qualities, principally its teddy-bear like feel.

Bouclé is woven from yarn made up of looped fibres of either acrylic, cotton, linen, silk or wool. This gives it an uneven ‘nubby’ appearance, akin to tweed but much softer.

This texture is the reason Chanel chose bouclé for her iconic cardigan-like jacket that was easy to wear, unlike the restricting garments of the era.

The jacket stays in the collection today, even as big names in homeware introduce sofas and chairs with bouclé upholstery.

Now at the Heal’s store in London’s Tottenham Court Road, one of the first pieces that you see is the inviting Nuvola sofa covered in an off-white bouclé (heals.com). 

This sofa, which is all curves and no sharp edges, takes its name from nuvoloso, the Italian for cloudy, and it is the rise of this style of reassuring and sink-into seating that is boosting the ascent of bouclé.

Its pleasingly reassuring quality led to the creation of the most celebrated item of bouclé furniture: the Womb chair made in 1948 by Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American architect for the designer and architect Florence Knoll Bassett.

This bouclé upholstered bucket chair, in which sitting down is likened to lowering yourself into ‘a basket of pillows’, is on sale today at a price of about £1,500.

Such is the ease promised by bouclé that it rivals the appeal of velvet, which was until recently the upholstery favourite.

Helena Davies, head of buying at Barker and Stonehouse, says: ‘We’ve seen a sharp increase in consumers searching for bouclé upholstery, with a 258 per cent jump since the start of the year in comparison with other more classic options like velvet.’

Barker and Stonehouse’s bouclé sofas include the Lenor (£1,599) whose padded design is influenced by stratocumulus clouds (barkerandstonehouse.co.uk).

The Lenor comes in ivory. While bouclé is available in many shades, creams and beiges are surprisingly popular because advances in textile technology have made these tones far more practical than before.

Nicky Line, chief product officer at Loaf bed and sofa group, says: ‘We’re launching our Wobbly Cotton bouclé range in August — it will be a brilliant way for our customers to introduce texture into the home. 

‘We’ve made it ‘clever’, so it’s spill-resistant and family-friendly as possible.’ Line argues that bouclé’s blend of what she calls ‘texture, tactility and touch’ embodies the touchy-feely qualities that people want now.

A bouclé sofa is a sizeable investment in this trend, but such is the demand for the fabric that homeware retailers are providing a large range of items in the fabric.

An accent chair will add a contemporary touch to a traditional country-type interior, while softening industrial chic furniture which can now seem a little too edgy.

Habitat has the £160 Cole chair (habitat.co.uk), while John Lewis offers the Anyday Dime Accent chair (£349) in light wood. This is inspired by the seating of the Art Deco period, another key trend of 2023 (johnlewis.com).

If you suspect that even stain-resistant bouclé would not survive in your household, Dunelm’s Kit accent chair in dark grey bouclé has been reduced by 50 per cent to £99 (dunelm.com).

At Dusk, you will find bouclé cushion covers in black and off-white starting at £8 for the 30cm by 50cm size (dusk.com). B&M has bouclé cushions at £12 for two (bmstores.co.uk). Swoon has the £239 Billie midcentury-style bouclé footstool (swoon.com).

The warm response to bouclé has been seen as proof of a longing for the cosy, which means that more sheepskin pieces, either real or faux, will be appearing in the shops.

If a sheepskin throw gives any chair a more relaxing feel, then what could be more laid-back than a sheepskin chair.

During the spring decor shows, one of the standout items was Eikund’s Fluffy lounge chair with sloping wooden armrests and upholstered with shaggy black or white sheepskin.

Would such a chair sit well alongside a bouclé sofa? Yes, because this year your sitting room is, first and foremost, an ultra-comfort zone.

The incident occurred approximately 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) northwest of New Delhi, the capital city. Rescue efforts are underway, with around 700 injured individuals already taken to nearby hospitals for urgent medical attention. The cause of the derailment is currently under investigation, as authorities work tirelessly to determine the factors that led to this catastrophic event.

Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, the leading administrator in the Balasore district, confirmed the death toll and expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy. The extent of the devastation prompted an immediate response, with nearly 500 police officers, rescue workers, and medical personnel deployed to the scene. These brave individuals, equipped with 75 ambulances and buses, are diligently working to extricate approximately 200 individuals who remain trapped inside the wreckage.

According to Amitabh Sharma, a spokesperson for the railroad ministry, the derailment involved 10 to 12 coaches from one train, causing debris from the mangled coaches to spill onto an adjacent track. Tragically, another passenger train traveling in the opposite direction collided with the fallen wreckage. As a result, up to three coaches from the second train also derailed, exacerbating the scope of the disaster.

Initial reports indicate that the derailed train, known as the Coromandel Express, was en route from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The news of this horrific incident reached Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who expressed his distress and offered his condolences to the affected families. In a tweet, he assured that all possible assistance is being extended, having already discussed the matter with the railway minister.

While the Indian government has taken measures to enhance rail safety, accidents continue to occur frequently on the vast railway network, which is the largest under a single management worldwide. India’s railways carry millions of passengers daily, covering an extensive network of 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles). Despite ongoing efforts to modernize infrastructure and equipment, many accidents are attributed to human error or outdated signaling systems.

This tragic incident serves as a stark reminder of the challenges faced in ensuring the safety of India’s railway system. As rescue operations persist, the nation mourns the loss of lives and hopes for the swift recovery of those injured. The investigation into the causes of the derailment will play a crucial role in preventing similar incidents in the future.