A FORMER tax office has been transformed into a studio by artists and writers in a temporary takeover.

What once housed the HMRC office at 23 Piccadilly is now a gallery and art space for York's fine artists and creatives of all kinds.

Art lovers can stop by every Saturday to view artwork created that week between 12pm and 6pm as part of a scheme by charity Uthink P.D.P.

With the catch line 'Turning today's vacant spaces into community art hubs', Piccadilly Pop Up collective is one of several Uthink communities across the country.

One of those renting studio space is artist Richard Kitchen who said "there's all sorts of things going on".

Richard told The Press: "There's sculptures, painting, drawing, murals. Some of us are writers and there's some books around as well.

"It's a real mixed bag and quite exciting.

"York's a very small community and as people think they know what kind of art is out there to be seen I think there's still some surprises and they ought to come along and see what we're up to. It's maybe a little bit different from what you might expect."

When asked if he'd like to see more schemes like this in York's empty buildings, Richard said: "We rent but at a very reasonable rate. At the moment we're working there in studio space during the week and on Saturday's we panic and clear everything away and open for the public as a gallery.

"It feels great. We're so lucky to have premises at such great rates. Artists in York unless they're really famous people, people that already have the means to be artists, can rent these places. Really it means we can make what we want to make without feeling the pressure to make work for money.

"In my opinion councils should be doing these sorts of things. I think artists are an asset to a city, a community."