A VACANT Woolworths store became a venue for a mass drawing session which attracted hundreds of people.

The interior of the shop in Leytonstone High Road was covered in paper on Saturday and passers-by were encouraged to unleash their creativity to help fill the paper with sketches.

The event was put on by artists Sally Labern and Sally Barker, who ran choreographed drawing sessions with visitors of all ages.

Tim Sanders, 52, a cartoonist from Bethnal Green, brought his two children, Maria, five, and two-year-old Juliet.

He said: “It was very good and imaginative with lots of people taking part and enjoying themselves. There were lots of people who can draw but those who were less confident still joined in.

“It was a great idea and my children got quite into it. They also enjoyed having a good run around the shop.”

Mum-of-three Fran Hands, 32, of Woodrift Road in Leytonstone, said: “I think this was a really good idea after seeing the shop sit empty for so long.”

The event is part of The Drawing Shed project, a mobile drawing studio created by Labern&Barker and funded by Arts Council England as part of Well London.

The artists pushed the drawing shed around the town before the workshop and got shoppers to draw on it.

Sally Labern said: “It has been totally amazing. I was videoing people and it was completely quiet because they were so focussed.

“We are all creative beings. There is some great talent out there and some people really came out of their shell.”

Unfortunately by the end of the event, several teenagers got carried away and started drawing in pen on the walls, entrance and windows of the former store, forcing the artists to confiscate pens from them and try to clean the graffiti off.