When Tourism Minister Ewart Brown challenged businesses on Court Street to ?brighten up, paint up? a month ago, he never expected the response he received.

Businesses north of Dundonald Street have since had a lick of paint, cleaned up the street, added more Police officers to the beat and worked at completing renovations to the Spinning Wheel Entertainment Complex.

During a tour of the area on Monday, Dr. Brown said the reason for the success so far was a true partnership between businesses in the area.

Dr. Brown said Tourism approached owners of businesses and simply asked the question: ?Why should Court Street not be the place it used to be and why should tourists not come to Court Street??

?This is what can happen when Government and the private sector work together in the community,? he said.

Dr. Brown said the brightly coloured buildings was just the beginning of what would happen on Court Street.

?There is no reason why we can not bring this area back to life and we will be doing everything we can including supporting programmes in the area,? he said.

One of these programmes was the ?Peace in the Streets? programme last night when Court Street was closed to traffic for a street carnival.

Dr. Brown was hopeful that the revamping of Court Street would be ?contagious? in that the rest of the Bermuda would see it working and try it elsewhere.

?It all started over some paint and how look at it,? he said.

The Minister of Public Safety, Randy Horton said on Monday that he felt it was important that a place like Court Street was revised.

?As the Minister of Public Safety, I can assure the people in the area that we will be providing all the support that we can to businesses to ensure that people coming into the area have the quality of an experience they expected,? he said.

One of the businessmen responsible for the revamping of Court Street is Spinning Wheel?s manager, Steve Simons who said that the mindset of people had changed since the revamping began.

?We welcome everyone in Bermuda to come to Court Street and enjoy the new atmosphere,? he said.