A bicycle used as part of Banksy’s hula-hooping artwork in Nottingham has seemingly disappeared overnight.
The bike, which was missing its rear tyre, was chained to a speed sign by the wall on Rothesay Avenue, where the anonymous artist chose to do the graffiti. The black and white picture of a girl hula-hooping with a tyre appeared on October 13.
Residents say Banksy brought the bike with him as part of the artwork. Tracy Jayne, who lives in the area, then noticed the bike was no longer there on Sunday morning.
‘It’s such a shame if someone has stolen the bike. It’s sheer disrespect and saddens me very much.
The artwork records an important part of Nottingham’s history, Raleigh bikes. My late husband worked for Raleigh until it closed in 2002. He died at age 48 in 2017′.
Tracy Jayne
The graffiti is believed to be worth more than £214,000, which is the average price for a house in the area it was painted.
PHOTO CREDIT: TBC
The bike’s disappearance has not been reported to Nottinghamshire Police or Nottingham City Council, the BBC reported.
It comes after the piece was vandalised within hours of it appearing on the wall. Luckily the council had already covered it with a temporary plastic covering, meaning the image remained undamaged.
Banksy is famously elusive and his identity has never been confirmed. Discussing the hula-hooping graffiti at the time of its arrival, a shop keeper told how he had seen a van with ‘blacked out windows’ arrive in the area and leave with cardboard ‘gaffa taped to the wall’.
Alex Mitchell, 31, said he only saw the van’s driver, noting that he had ‘pretended’ to break down by the wall on Tuesday for at least two hours. He said the man had come into his shop to buy two Ribenas during that time.
