170 COLOURFUL umbrellas have been placed above a street in Caernarfon.

The art installation over Palace Street features multi-coloured brollies put up by Hwb Caernarfon - the town’s Business Improvement District (BID) and community volunteers.

Hwb manager Gavin Owen says the idea originated from a trip to Barcelona.

“I first saw them when I was over there and thought they were great,” he said.

“We at Hwb Caernarfon came across a town centre innovation grant so we thought we’d put an application in, then we were successful and were provided with funding for the project.

"This is just a really small part of what we do here, but the feedback received both from locals and on social media, has been amazing."

The umbrella scheme is part of a wider project aimed at improving town centres and boosting the economy.

The Caernarfon brollies are expected to stay up until the end of August.

"We have a system in place for if the weather gets particularly windy," Gavin added.

"We have someone on standby to close the umbrellas if wind speeds go above 35mph or so. The structure the umbrellas are placed on will stay up all year round however, which will come in handy for putting up decorations for other events - such as Christmas and New Year."

The Caernarfon scheme also has a charitable side to it as volunteers on Palace Street have been collecting donations for the Mental Health Foundation and the Meddwl.org from visitors.