New Banksy tree mural has cropped up on side of our home – but we’re terrified our rent is going to skyrocket
The elusive artist confirmed it was his in an Instagram post
BANKSY has confirmed that a tree mural painted onto the side of a home is his – with locals terrified their rent will skyrocket.
The ginormous artwork appeared overnight on Saturday in Finsbury Park, North London, and has left residents speechless.
The artist claimed the mural as his own in an Instagram post on Monday, following a morning of speculation after it appeared on a building on Hornsey Road overnight.
In the post, the elusive artist didn’t add a description adjoining the three pictures he uploaded.
Street artist Banksy often refers to contemporary issues in his work, and what is understood to be his latest addition, shows a woman with a pressure hose apparently spray-painting a leafless tree.
James Roebuck, 26, who lives in the flat block said he woke up to the art on Sunday morning.
He said on X/Twitter: “Banksy came overnight and now my rent will skyrocket.”
Alex Georgiou owns the block of flats which he bought for £400,000 in 2012.
Georgiou said he wouldn’t charge more after the addition of the new piece of art.
He told the : “I was having a bit of a laugh with the girls who were saying I was gonna put the rent up 250 per cent but no no. I doubt it.”
“Unless we have a massive Banksy fan who is prepared to pay over the odds. But a property is worth what a property is worth.
But he did say he could sell it: “They can come knocking if they want. Give me a number in an envelope and whoever has the biggest number can have it.
“You know what, if somebody offered me millions and they can have the building and take the flats with it. Feel free.”
Georgiou estimated the building would sell for £1.3m before the addition of the art.
He told PA he had found out about it late on Sunday night, and came down to see it for the first time on Monday morning.
“It’s quite mad to be honest, to come down here and just to see all the crowds of people looking at the building.”
Georgiou said there was not currently anyone living in the building, which was on the lettings market with his estate agents.
He added: “The question is, what do I do with it now? What am I meant to do with it now?
It’s quite mad to be honest, to come down here and just to see all the crowds of people looking at the building
Alex Georgiou
“I definitely plan on keeping it on there and letting people enjoy it, everyone’s loving it which is great, I just can’t really believe it still to be honest.”
Earlier, the creator of the BBC Radio 4 series The Banksy Story, James Peak, has said he was certain the work was Banksy’s.
He told the BBC: “The message is clear. Nature’s struggling and it is up to us to help it grow back.
“If you go way back to the beginning of his work, he is always looking for something he can do with minimum effort to make something look really cool.”
The elusive artist confirms any artwork on his official Instagram page – which he last did in December last year.
Islington Council described the piece as “amazing” in a post to X, formerly Twitter, and said their borough has always celebrated creativity.
They said: “The cherry tree near the artwork has decay and is in declining health. We have pruned the tree for safety and in an effort to prolong its lifespan.”
It comes after a council was slammed for ruining another Banksy mural after part of it was replaced by a wheelie bin.
The artwork on the side of a building in Margate, Kent, originally showed a bruised 1950s housewife in an apron and washing-up gloves pushing a man into a freezer.
Valentine’s Day Mascara, a mural weighing 3.8 tonnes, appeared on the side of a house in Margate, Kent, on Valentine’s Day, last year.
But just 24 hours after the artwork was first spotted, council workers removed the freezer – leaving behind a blank space.
A council wheelie bin later replaced the freezer.
THE MYSTERY OF BANKSY
In 2018 Banksy ruined one of his artworks – when he caused his most famous painting to shred itself just seconds after it was sold for £1million.
Buyers at the Sotheby’s London auction house were stunned when his Girl with Balloon piece started to self-destruct.
It sold for a staggering £1,042,000 but was left hanging in strips when it went through the device inside the frame.
In September, Valentine’s Day Mascara was placed in the foyer of The Art of Banksy exhibition in Regent Street, central London, where it can be viewed for free.
The exhibition features pieces including Girl With Balloon, Flower Thrower and Rude Copper, Banksy’s Dismaland, The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem and recent works acknowledging the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Banksy's last confirmed artwork
ELUSIVE artist Banksy confirms any artwork on his Instagram page.
The last post admitting any work was his came in December 2023.
A traffic stop sign was covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones on a South London street.
Fans of Banksy interpreted the piece as a political statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Just an hour after Banksy posted confirming it was his, the graffiti art was removed and two men were seen taking it down.
Footage showed one of them balancing on a Lime bike at the junction of Southampton Way and Commercial Way..
It is understood Banksy was not behind the removal.