Banksy’s artwork to be relocated

Banksy’s artwork showing a shoal of piranhas swimming on a City of London police box is to be relocated to a ‘safe place’, according to correspondence seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The piece, which is in Ludgate Hill by the Old Bailey, was the elusive artist’s seventh new design in the capital in the last week. Banksy confirmed it as his own in an Instagram post on Sunday. An eighth, showing a rhino mounting a car in Charlton, has since also been unveiled.

Barriers were subsequently erected around it by the local governing body, the City of London Corporation, in an effort to protect the site from criminal damage, alongside 24/7 security.

The City previously said it is working through options to ‘preserve’ the work. Now, an internal email sent to members on behalf of the City Surveyor, Paul Wilkinson, indicates it is due to be moved to a new location.

According to the email, seen by the LDRS, a full site visit was planned to take place this morning (August 12), ahead of the structure being moved ‘to a safe place’.

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“City Police and City Corporation colleagues will continue to work together to ensure there remains an appropriate level of police support in place whilst the police box is out of action,” Mr Wilkinson’s email continued.

Asked for comment, a Corporation spokesperson repeated their earlier statement, saying: “We’re aware of the works on the City of London Police Box on Ludgate Hill. We are currently working through options to preserve the artwork.” They did not confirm where it is to be moved to.

The City of London Police was also approached, but said it had nothing to add.

The piranhas were the seventh in a series of animal artworks attributed to Banksy which appeared around London in the last week. As well as the fish, they include silhouettes of a goat with rocks falling beneath it, elephants, and pelicans.

A piece showing a cat stretching was removed from a Cricklewood billboard on Saturday, while another, of a howling wolf on a satellite dish in Peckham, was taken by suspected thieves.

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