Couple pay £200,000 to have Banksy removed from home
As we’ve seen several times over the past three decades, Bristol-based graffiti artist Banksy can come in handy when looking to draw attention and money to forgotten corners of suburbia.
However, according to reports, a British couple has been plunged into a “living nightmare” since a Banksy mural appeared on the side of their home in Suffolk. Since the faceless artist plonked a 20-foot seagull on the side wall of their home in 2021, the homeowners, Garry and Gokean Coutts, have been harassed by vandals and pressured to pay for the artwork’s protection which would cost almost £50,000 per year.
Seeing only one viable way out, the couple has now paid approximately £200,000 to have the wall removed.
In a new interview with The Times, Mr. Coutts said: “At first, it was obviously incredible, but as things have gone on, it has become extremely stressful. I’m not sure Banksy realises the unintended consequences on homeowners. If we could turn back the clock, we would.”
Over the past two years, Vandalism has included graffiti artists spraying tags over the piece and others chipping off sections of the wall to sell online. Following such activity, the couple was forced to hire private security to watch the wall overnight.
The Couttses have now had the 22-ton mural removed, a major project that involved “reinforcing it with 12 layers of resin, fibreglass [sic] and five tonnes [sic] of steel and using a 40ft crane to take it away.”
The couple hopes to sell the wall in order to offset the $250,000 payment. “We are just normal people,” Mr. Coutts told The Sun, “so we’d like to sell it and make something back on it.”