A rock star has been united with an old music shop sign thanks to a regional daily.

Blur singer Damon Albarn has acquired the sign from the closed Axe Music shop, in Colchester, after he mentioned he wanted it in an interview with the Colchester Daily Gazette.

Mr Albarn frequented the shop while growing up in the Essex town and purchased some of his earliest instruments from there.

Following the interview, Gazette reporter George King tracked down Axe Music owner Alan Gray, who in turn got permission to safely dismantle and remove the sign from the store’s facade.

Damon Albarn, left, and Alan Gray with the sign

The pair subsequently handed it over to Mr Albarn in person.

Discussing their encounter, George wrote in a first-person piece: “He had all the time in the world, despite having an important gig in the evening.

“Damon was accommodating in every sense of word and the experience could not have played out more perfectly – he put us at ease from his first handshake to his final hug.

“Never meet your heroes, the old saying goes, but I am so, so glad we did.

“Somewhat stunned and in a dreamlike state, we left the studio with a combination of huge grins and disbelieving looks sprawled across our faces.

“What at first seemed like an utter impossibility had just become a reality. See, it really, really, really can happen.”