BACK in the 1980s, a male model put TV viewers in a spin when he stripped to his boxer shorts inside a launderette in an advertisement for Levi jeans.

Now female customers at a Bolton launderette are in for the same kind of treat.

It has been transformed into an art gallery . . . complete with pictures of a scantily clad man!

Photography and fashion student Gail Rickett has taken snaps of athlete Andrew Thomas and the pictures now cover the walls of Clean Street Launderette, on Bradford Road, Bolton. Gail, aged 33, a Bolton Institute degree student, said the exhibition -- called Athlete -- would run for two months.

She said: "The Levi advertisement was a classic and I wanted to do something which was equally memorable. The launderette's a perfect environment and fitted the bill perfectly. It's a place you'd least expect to see artwork and so it is just as shocking as seeing a male model strip down to his pants.

"So far the reaction has been amazing. It's really caught people's imagination."

Launderette manager David Bond said: "It adds a bit of glamour to the place and proves it is not a Dot Cotton-style Eastenders environment.

"Having art in such an unexpected place takes culture to the people with very little effort."

Gail took up photography two years ago. She has met, photographed and interviewed stars such as Boy George.

She decided to call her exhibition Athlete because of her interest in sport. She appeared in a few episodes of TV's Gladiators and she was the first woman lifeguard in the North-west.