Banksy: New London artwork of stretching cat taken down

Hours after Banksy confirmed the design was his in an Instagram post, crowds gathered from across London to see the piece before men, who said they were contractors, arrived.

The billboard had been due to be taken down on Monday before the artwork appeared.

One contractor, who gave his name as Marc, said the date had been brought forward in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe”.

Marc said the artwork will be brought back to their yard to see if anyone collects it.

He said: “We’ll store that bit [the artwork] in our yard to see if anyone collects it but if not it’ll go in a skip.

“I’ve been told to keep it careful in case he wants it.”