Owner of Banksy artwork in Port Talbot 'has nowhere to put it' as deadline looms

A Banksy artwork in Port Talbot will have to be moved following the end of an arrangement with the council.

The owner of 'Season's Greetings', John Brandler, says he has been given five weeks to move the piece but has "nowhere to put it".

A letter from Neath Port Talbot Council to Mr Brandler said the artwork needed to be removed by 14 January 2022 following a temporary loan.

But the owner says the people of the town want to keep the piece and claimed there was no information about who to speak to in regards to having his artwork returned.

Mr Brandler said: "The people of Port Talbot wanted it and the bureaucracy did not. I do not know who in Pobl I need to speak to or who in the council.

"I was told your three years is up and now take it away. In all honesty, I have nowhere to put it."

A spokesperson for the council says it was open to keeping the artwork in the town but the cost would be too high.

They said: "The council was informed it would have to meet the costs of its removal and installation into a new venue, to continue to cover the insurance and to pay a fee in the region of £100,000 per year for the loan of the work."

With the tight deadline lingering, Mr Brandler added: "They say they have given me five weeks but you can take two weeks out because of Christmas and New Year and there’s a shortage of lorry drivers."

'The Seasons Greetings' first appeared on a garage wall in Port Talbot three years ago and depicts a child playing under falling ash that appears as snow.

Garage owner Ian Lewis initially struggled to cope with the droves of tourists flocking to the artwork and so sold it to collector John Brandler.

Council statement

A Neath Port Talbot Council spokesperson responded: "After Mr Brandler purchased the artwork and the Welsh Government paid for it to be moved to the then unoccupied retail unit in Port Talbot, the agreement with Mr Brandler was always that Season’s Greetings could be viewed by members of the public there until the end of the temporary arrangement on January 14, 2022.

"Regarding Mr Brandler’s surprise that there are ‘no alternative options’ for the art work - discussions were held on future arrangements and the potential for the work to remain in Port Talbot.

"But the council was informed it would have to meet the costs of its removal and installation into a new venue, to continue to cover the insurance and to pay a fee in the region of £100,000 per year for the loan of the work.

"It has been estimated the cost of removal and relocation to another venue of Season’s Greetings would amount to a substantial sum."

Neath Port Talbot Council thanked Mr Brandler for his loan of the artwork.