It has been branded public enemy number one and blamed for everything from vandalism to the fear of crime.

Graffiti has long divided communities between those who think of it as a modern version of Van Gogh and those who see it as an unacceptable blight on their environment.

Brighton and Hove City Council recently celebrated its success in reducing levels of graffiti to what it says are the lowest levels so far.

The council spent months scrubbing out the offending artwork only to find the graffiti artists are now winning fans in some unexpected places.

Violet Putnam, of Upper Hamilton Road, Brighton, was so impressed with the graffiti she spotted in the city centre she contacted The Argus to say well done to whoever was responsible.

She said: "I normally hate graffiti, particularly tagging, which I find egotistical in the extreme.

"What is more, so much graffiti is just an eyesore that makes our city look trashy and unkempt.

"But the words I've been seeing, set out in verses, have an entirely different sentiment. They are a little like love poems that lift your heart and make you smile.

"I would just like to say thank you to whoever it is that is making our city's graffiti such a delight to behold."

Whereas graffiti is often blamed for making visitors feel threatened, the poems admired by Violet seem more likely to produce feelings of peace and love than aggression.

The Haiku-style love poems on the construction site behind Komedia in Gardner Street may not be fully understood by everyone but they are still managing to produce smiles on the faces of passers-by.

However, efforts have already been made to remove similar drawings in Air Street.

Yesterday, The Argus found the poetry had been partially scrubbed out.

Its quick removal is likely to be due to recent determined efforts by the council and Brighton's business community, which is attempting to keep city graffiti to the bare minimum.

The North Laine area has long been a favourite spot for graffiti.

While the narrow streets pride themselves on being an offbeat haven for the young and creative, traders have fought a long campaign against the taggers who deface their shops with unwelcome and unimaginative "art".

An informal survey carried out by businesses last Christmas revealed graffiti was a major turn-off for visitors.

Peter Stocker, secretary of the area's traders' association, said: "Visitors told us dirty pavements and graffiti were the things they liked least about Brighton. They said the graffiti made the area feel unsafe and unsure whether anyone really cared about it.

"But I think the council has made a fantastic effort to clear up the graffiti. We've certainly got a lot less than ever before.

"I can understand the positive impact of good graffiti and I know at one stage the council talked about providing a wall where kids could draw freely but decided against it because they did not want to appear to encourage it."

Mr Stocker's own business has been covered in graffiti three times this year. He said: "I had to repaint it on the last occasion because the pen marks wouldn't come out. I would have to do that even if it was a nice poem."

Brighton is home to dozens of graffiti artists who daub their names, political views and artwork on walls across the city with good examples in New England Street and Blackman Street.

Meanwhile, some traders have decided if they can't beat the graffiti artists, they will join them.

Mark Sohn, owner of army surplus store Crossfire in the city centre, took matters into his own hands by asking a local graffiti artist to paint his shop sign.

Since introducing the artwork, he has only had two incidents of people daubing graffiti on his shop.

He said: "We got him to do it to stop him putting graffiti all over the walls around the corner.

"Graffiti is an art and it is part of our culture whether people like it or not."

Paul Begley, of Crust in Redcross Street, Brighton, has also invited a graffiti artist to decorate his walls.

He said: "We told him what we wanted and then let him do his own thing and we were happy with it.

"The good thing about graffiti is that you can paint over it and put something different in its place."

The council and the Brighton City Centre Business Forum have developed a joint strategy to deal with graffiti.

In June, the forum published a booklet about graffiti, containing hints and tips on how firms could remove it and giving advice on prevention and deterrence.

It was distributed to every business in central Brighton and Hove and to residents in areas with a particular problem.

In July, the forum welcomed government proposals to force private firms to remove graffiti from their own property at their own cost.

The forum said although most businesses removed graffiti, a stubborn five to ten per cent did not.

A council spokeswoman said it was testing new street washing equipment which could further reduce levels of graffiti, as would the amalgamation of its street cleansing and graffiti-removing teams.

She said, from last month, graffiti became the responsibility of landlords and private property owners.

She said: "If they agree, we'd like to encourage artistic graffiti.

"If it is in an authorised place, we won't remove it."