Banksy Goes Ex-Directory

Vintage Banksy on Brick Lane, last summer and (inset) a few days ago. Spot the difference? Someone’s gone and half-inched his number.

The BBC quote regular passer-by John Brophy:

Every time I walk past it there is always someone taking photos of it. Everyone knows that area as the Banksy Bridge so I think he should come back and do it again.

Unlikely. We’ll have to rechristen it the Eine bridge, assuming the similar placards on the opposing wall are still there.

In London, nailing or even cementing things down is insufficient security against theft. Whole chunks of building have gone astray, with big money being offered on eBay for original Banksy work.

Graffiti is, by nature, ephemeral. Council cleaners and irked property owners have been the traditional enemy. The agents who remove it from our streets now include souvenir hunters and art thieves. With so many predators, is Banksy an endangered species?