I recently picked up two nice local UK zines one covering the cities of Bristol and Leicester. The former is the fourth edition of a West Country gem that I’ve read before but unfortunately have missed a coupla issues of. Covering a range of street damage this zine does everything it needs to really; lots of tags, throwups, vans, rollers, dubs, pieces and a few sketches for good measure. The city is pretty battered and the untitled zine gives a nice feel for what it’s like walking around checking out the Bristol based crews and tourists stopping by to leave their mark. 

The other zine hails from the Midlands and, aside from a few panels and a bit of freight, also focuses on the street side of things. As its title suggests Lockdown Locals was produced to cover what had been going on while Leicester was under covid lockdown. An introduction by Auris describes the unique opportunity the period presented to a certain subsection of Leicester’s residents. Describing what sort of things they managed to paint in the deserted streets, graffiti was also a lifeline providing a bit of grounding among the madness. Lockdown Locals is printed in full colour showcasing various walls, shutters, a few tags, and the odd rooftop. It also features some chrome across a dustbin lorry which is a bit of a novelty!

Both these zines hit the mark in letting the reader know about the places they represent and giving a feel for the local graff culture. What’s nice about these sorts of publications is that they can be so varied and offer up something different to the glossy magazines with comparatively huge print runs.