Banksy: Season's Greetings owner says artwork 'trapped'

Owner John Brandler says the council initiated the removal of the Banksy

The owner of a mural Banksy created in Wales said he would like to give the artwork a new home in Ipswich.

John Brandler bought the painting of a boy basking in the ash of a bin fire shortly after it appeared on the side of a garage in Port Talbot in 2018.

The art dealer said it was currently "trapped" in its current location due to complications, but has said he would like to move it 270 miles (435km) to the University of Suffolk.

The university has declined to comment.

The image, entitled Season's Greetings, had appeared on two sides of the garage depicting a child enjoying snow falling - the other side revealed it was from a fire emitting ash.

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However, with about 20,000 people said to have visited it in one month alone, there were concerns about its safety.

It was bought for a six-figure sum by Mr Brandler, and the Welsh government paid to move it to an unoccupied shop in Port Talbot so it could still be viewed by the public.

Neath Port Talbot Council said in November the arrangement to keep it at the shop, in the Ty'r Orsaf development, would end on 14 January and it would be up to the owner what he did with it.

Mr Brandler, a gallery owner from Brentwood in Essex, said he had assembled a "team to move it, remove the windows, cranes to lift it and wheels to move it" to Ipswich.

But he hit a stumbling block when he was told he could not remove the windows on the building to get it out.

"It means the Banksy is trapped, imprisoned in the building," he said.

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