Banksy mural to be relocated

Banksy’s Season’s Greetings mural is due to be relocated from a steelworker’s garage to a new art gallery on Wednesday.

The artwork will be lifted from its current location in the Taibach area of Port Talbot by a crane and loaded onto the back of a lorry, before police help escort it to its new home at Ty’r Orsaf in the town centre.

The move has been arranged by Essex-based art dealer John Brandler, 63, who purchased the piece from garage owner Ian Lewis for a “six-figure sum” in January.

He agreed to allow it to be displayed for the public in Port Talbot for a minimum of three years.

Mr Lewis told the BBC he did not think he would miss the mural.

“It’s been a real mix; it’s been a pleasure, it’s been a pain, it’s been exciting, it’s been stressful,” he told the broadcaster.

“I don’t think I’ll miss it, but I probably will pop in and visit it. I’m pretty proud of the outcome to be honest with you.”

The mural has been covered in resin to stop it from cracking, and engineers spent Tuesday separating it from the garage’s two external walls and erecting a steel frame around it for protection.

The Banksy is scheduled to begin being moved around 9am, with hundreds of spectators expected to gather in the area as it slowly makes its way through the town.

It is expected to be brought into Ty’r Orsaf, a former police station recently developed into a mixed-use retail unit in Port Talbot’s town centre, around midday.