New London artwork of a stretching cat to be taken down

A Banksy artwork depicting the silhouette of a cat on an empty, dilapidated billboard on Edgware Road is being removed.

The street artist posted a caption-less photo of the design to his Instagram on Saturday, the sixth in a series of animal-themed artworks over the past week.

The new work is located in Cricklewood, a district in northwest London, and follows his recent artwork depicting pelicans apparently stealing fish from the sign of a chip shop, which was unveiled on Friday.

It has been confirmed that the latest artwork will be removed by a developer in case someone “tears it down and makes it unsafe”.

The billboard was supposed to be taken down on Monday before the artwork arrived there.

The contractor, who gave his name as Marc, said the date had been moved up.

Marc said the artwork will be returned to their yard to see if anyone will pick it up.

He said: “We will store this part (the artwork) in our garden and see if anyone picks it up. If not, it will go in the container.”

“I was told to keep it safe in case he wants it.”

The police have blocked off the path in front of the billboard.

Josette Gerlier, 79, came from Kensington to see the Banksy artwork, as she had travelled this week to see all the other works except the wolf in Peckham, south London, which was removed before she could see it.

She described the removal of poster art in Cricklewood as “madness” when the developers started doing it.

She said: “It would be nice to keep it. You could stop people walking on the path but I know it’s a very busy road.

“The whole situation is madness.”

The picture is one of many that have been seen in the last week.

On Monday, a stencilled image of a goat appeared at Kew, and on Tuesday the Bristol-based artist unveiled a picture of two elephants touching trunks in Chelsea, although by Friday the image had been daubed with stripes.

Three monkeys hanging from a bridge in Brick Lane drew crowds on Wednesday, and a howling wolf was spotted on a satellite dish in Peckham on Thursday.

When the artwork of two pelicans appeared above the sign of a fish and chip shop in Walthamstow on Friday, a local resident told BBC News: “It’s really exciting.”

“A friend messaged me this morning and told me it had appeared on my street, so we agreed to come over as soon as possible.

“It’s so much fun and so healthy – it’s really nice to see.”

She believed the location, Bonner’s Fish Bar, was significant.

“It’s something of an icon of the area and I’m sure that’s why it was chosen,” she said.

“It’s been here for a long time and is very loved.”

A stencil of a wolf on a satellite dish in Rye Lane, Peckham, published on Thursday was taken down from the roof of a building just hours after it was published.

A video was taken showing two people removing it and carrying it down the street.

The Banksy press team told the BBC they “believed” it had been stolen.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said they had received reports of the bowl being stolen, adding that “no arrests have been made” and that “investigations are ongoing.”

The Banksy press team did not want to comment on the possible significance of the stencil series in London.