Cricklewood Banksy cat graffiti removed by contractors

The elusive artist shared a picture on Instagram showing his latest work on a billboard near Lidl in Edgware Road, Cricklewood, yesterday (August 10) .

It showed a silhouette of a large cat stretching, and followed a series of other animal pieces he created across London throughout the week.

But hours after it was revealed, three men claiming to be from a contracting company took the billboard down for safety reasons.

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

A contractor, who only wanted to give his name as Marc, told the PA news agency that they were going to pull the boarding down on Monday and replace it, but the removal had been brought forward to Saturday in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe”.

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.”

The Banksy billboard removed in Cricklewood (Image: Jordan Reynolds/PA Wire)

A black board was first used to cover the majority of the cat on the billboard at the request of the police, who wanted to stop people walking in the road in front of traffic.

The removal effort was briefly paused by the police as officers checked the contractors were approved to take the piece down before they were allowed to continue with the work.

An officer at the scene told PA that the owner of the billboard has told police he will donate it to an art gallery.

Police had taped off the path in front of the graffiti as around 50 people gathered to take pictures and later watched it being removed.

The Banksy billboard in Cricklewood covered before it was removed (Image: Jordan Reynolds/PA Wire)

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were called to Edgware Road, NW2, shortly after 16.30hrs on Saturday, 10 August to reports of a large crowd near a Banksy artwork on a billboard.

“Contractors, on behalf of the owner of the billboard, told officers they had been authorised to remove the board as it was unsafe.

“Local authority representatives attended the site, confirmed identities and authority to remove the board, and the removal then took place.”

Lia Colacicco, 67, a member of the NorthWestTwo Residents Association, said she offered to look after the Banksy for the owners of the billboard once it was taken down.

Fellow member Ben Tansley, 71, said: “If it wasn’t guarded overnight somebody would take it. It’s such a shame.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Banksy (@banksy)

The association's chairwoman, Carol Reeman, 64, added: “This is Cricklewood, this is our Banksy. You can’t even enjoy it for the whole day before someone wanted to take it down.

“You would wait for a lifetime for a Banksy to come into our neighbourhood. Cricklewood’s on the map.”

A spokesperson for the Brent Council told PA: “The billboard is privately owned and not council property.”

The cat design is the second piece this week to be removed after a painting of a wolf howling on a satellite dish was taken off the roof of a shop in Peckham, south London, less than an hour after it was unveiled.

The first piece of graffiti in Banksy’s new animal-themed series, which was announced on Monday, is near Kew Bridge in south-west London and shows a goat with rocks falling down below it, just above where a CCTV camera is pointed.

On Tuesday the artist added silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks stretched towards each other on the side of a building near Chelsea, west London.

This was followed by three monkeys looking as though they were swinging underneath a bridge over Brick Lane, near a vintage clothing shop in the popular east London market street, not far from Shoreditch High Street.

The fifth design, of pelicans pinching fish from a London chip shop sign in Walthamstow, east London, was revealed on Friday.

Reporting by PA.