A HAND painted mural inside a Warrington bookshop has been seen by more than 90,000 people after a celebrity author shared it with his 1.2 million followers.

Matt Harrop, who lives in Penketh, spends his free time drawing with his children as a hobby.

The 59-year-old bookshop manager decided to create a mural behind the counter to fill in a blank space after his previous artwork in the shop of Alice in Wonderland was well-received.

During the summer, Matt stayed behind at the Golden Square shop after he finished work one day and spent three hours creating a brand-new mural.

Matt enjoys drawing in his spare time with his childrenMatt spent three hours creating the mural (Image: Supplied)

This time, Richard Osman was chosen as the inspiration ahead of the release of his new book, We Solve Murders, on September 12.

“We thought what the big releases coming up towards the end of the year were and we thought that this would interest our customers the most,” said Matt.

The mural includes a remarkable impression of the BBC presenter’s face and the cover of his new book and was shared on social media by the staff.

“One of the reasons we did it was that we hoped it would catch his eye and get a bit of traction and draw people to our website,”

“It didn’t seem to work initially even though we shared it and popped his name it.”

But to Matt’s surprise, his beautiful mural was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the muse himself.

On Wednesday, the Pointless host took to his 1.2 million followers to share a picture of the mural.

“We Solve Murders is finally out on Sept 12,” the post read.

“Can’t wait for you all to meet the new gang, Amy, Steve and Rosie.

“And full marks go to Matt Harrop at Waterstones in Warrington for this amazing artwork.”

The post has now been seen by more than 90,000 people on the social media platform and has more than 800 likes.

“I was very surprised [when I saw it] and very pleased, and I was flattered that he’d liked the picture because not everybody thinks it looks that much like him,” said Matt.

“We’ve had a lot of comments, so it was quite nice that he liked it because he’s quite difficult to paint!

“It’s quite hard to get your head round [that that many people have seen it], but it’s a nice feeling.”

Matt’s already planning the next mural, which he says will be of the smash hit children’s book, Dog Man, which will be out in December.