- Estate agent Alex Georgiou bought the property near Finsbury Park in 2012
- Do you live in the block of flats? Email cameron.roy@mailonline.co.uk
The owner of the block of flats daubed with the latest Banksy artwork has urged wealthy fans to make him an offer – but insisted he won’t put up the rent for his tenants after the street was flooded with tourists today.
Locals in Finsbury Park, north London, said this morning they feared their rent would ‘skyrocket’ after the elusive street artist’s latest piece appeared on the side of a building.
But estate agent Alex Georgiou, who bought the property in 2012 for £400,000 according to land registry records, looked to allay neighbours’ fears by claiming he wouldn’t be charging more off the back of the area’s overnight fame.
However, he welcomed interest from potential buyers, as he bullishly told MailOnline: ‘You know what, if somebody offered me millions and they can have the building and take the flats with it. Feel free.’
The block, which he estimates is worth around £1.3m today and now consists of three flats, has been the subject of huge activity since the piece was spotted late on Sunday night.
Mr Georgiou, 40, ran down to see if for the first time this morning and said the addition had created a ‘buzz’ around the building.
‘It’s quite mad to be honest, to come down here and just to see all the crowds of people looking at the building,’ he said.
When Banksy officially announced the artwork was his on Monday morning, locals in the area began to worry rents could rise.
But when asked about the possibility of tenants being charged more, Mr Georgiou said: ‘No, no, no, no.
‘I was having a bit of a laugh with the girls who were saying I was gonna put the rent up 250 per cent but no no. I doubt it.
‘Unless we have a massive Banksy fan who is prepared to pay over the odds. But a property is worth what a property is worth.
‘You know what, if somebody offered me millions and they can have the building and take the flats with it. Feel free.
‘They can come knocking if they want. Give me a number in an envelope and whoever has the biggest number can have it.
‘How do you protect it, you know? It is on the side of a building, and it’s such a big thing. It’s not like his normal stuff where it’s quite small. This is the whole size of the building.
‘The question is, what do I do with it now? What am I meant to do with it now? I definitely plan on keeping it on there and letting people enjoy it, everyone’s loving it which is great, I just can’t really believe it still to be honest,’ he said.
When asked about the current worth of the building, Mr Georgiou estimated it would go for around £1.3million in the current market.
Mr Georgiou founded local estate agent Alex Marks with his brother Anthony in 2009.
The brothers were raised in the local area and hope the Banksy will help improve it.
The artwork in Finsbury Park shows a splattering of green paint behind a bare tree to resemble foliage, with a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose depicted next to it.
Some residents said they were ‘proud and delighted’ at the thought of the anonymous artist choosing their street for his latest mural when it emerged on Sunday after being painted overnight.
But James Roebuck, 26, who lives in the block, said: ‘Banksy came overnight and now my rent will skyrocket.’
Banksy – Britain’s most famous street artist – is renowned for choosing homes at random to use for his artwork, often shooting up their value by millions.
It can lead to problems though, with the owner of one building in Shoreditch painting over one of the artist’s etchings after they became irritated by a security light constantly being activated by Banksy fans turning up to view it.
Meanwhile, homeowners Garry and Gokean Coutts spent £200,000 removing a mural of a seagull from their house in Lowestoft, Suffolk, when they were forced to hire security after it became a target for vandals and thieves.
One Banksy artwork that appeared in London in December – a traffic stop sign covered with three military drones – was stolen less than an hour after appearing on a street in Peckham.
Banksy, who has 12.3million followers on Instagram, always confirms an artwork is his by posting a picture of it.
This came for the Finsbury Park painting at 11.13am today.
Prior to the official announcement, the artwork had already been gathering fans at the site on Hornsey Road in north London.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ‘delighted’ to see the artwork in his Islington North constituency.
‘Banksy’s come to Finsbury Park with a bit of greenery in a place that needs a bit more greenery. We’re the most densely populated constituency in the country and I’m just delighted,’ the MP said.
‘It gives the idea that we could do with much more greenery everywhere and I think that’s a really nice message.’
James Peak, who created the BBC Radio 4 series The Banksy Story, rushed to the scene yesterday after receiving a tip-off.
Prior to the announcement he was already sure it was a Banksy.
Mr Peak said the artwork had the hallmarks of a Banksy due to its clear message that nature is struggling and it is up to us to get it back.
He said another clue was the fact it was done with minimum effort but still looked really cool.
Banksy’s eye for detail could also be on display as the colour of the paint matches the one used for street signs by Islington Council.
The lack of leaves, despite it being spring, could also have inspired Banksy to create the painting.
Pictures from the scene one year ago, in March 2023, showed the tree looking similarly bare with no greenery.
But in July 2022 the tree was pictured with a lot more green foliage.
It is understood that the cherry tree in front of the artwork is around 40 to 50-years-old and in declining health. The council’s tree service had been maintaining it for some time to help prolong its lifespan and would continue to try to keep the decaying tree alive.
The artwork’s appearance has delighted many residents of Islington who took to social media to celebrate.
Wanja Sellers, a Hornsey Road resident who lives a few doors down from the mural, said: ‘We’re so proud and delighted that Banksy chose our road and chose Finsbury Park for his work.
‘The bright green colours represent Islington, which is lovely, and also, of course, St Patrick’s Day, which is nice and festive.
‘Choosing the colours of our borough just makes it feel like a personal message to us residents. We just feel so proud.’
Councillor Roulin Khondoker, executive member for equalities, culture and inclusion, said in a statement to PA: ‘Culture is a powerful way to tell meaningful stories and we welcome this artwork in Islington, a borough that celebrates creativity.
‘This fantastic piece from Banksy has sparked a real buzz across Islington and beyond, and we very much want the artwork to stay for people to enjoy. We want to find more ways that we can tell important stories through art and culture.
‘Trees are a vital part of our work to tackle the climate emergency. We’ve planted nearly 900 in the last year alone, and we work hard to care for our trees and help them to thrive.’
Lidia Guerra, another Hornsey Road resident, said: ‘The way it’s been done, with the paint spraying down, reminds me of a weeping willow, so there’s perhaps a message about the struggle of nature with the dead tree in front.
‘It’s just great – when we read about it last night, we knew we had to come and see it as soon as possible.
‘We feel so proud to think he chose our street.’
Chris Beskin, another resident of Hornsey Road, said he welcomes the mural, saying it is a ‘great thing to have in our area’.
‘I’m absolutely delighted to see this on our street – I think it’s great and sends a strong message, I’d like to see more of it, to be honest, the more the merrier,’ he said.
‘I think it’s probably one of his biggest pieces in a while – and the fact he’s done it on the wall means it can’t just be stolen or easily removed.’
Mr Beskin went to see the mural with his neighbours on Monday morning.
Fellow resident Carolyn said: ‘It’s just lovely to see how this piece of art has brought everyone together.
‘People have come out to chat in the streets and came out early this morning to speculate together.
‘It’s brought the community together, which has been really nice to see.’
Paul Drinot wrote on social media: ‘If this is a Banksy, it’s the best thing that’s happened to the Hornsey Road in years.’
One social media user was left puzzled after the artist seemed to have left zip ties at the scene – posting a picture of several black ones in a bunch.
The last time Banksy’s art was revealed in London, it ended in scandal.
Two men were arrested and bailed for allegedly using bolt cutters to steal the artwork which pictured a stop sign featuring three military drones.
Once Banksy announced on social media the artwork belonged to him in an Instagram post shortly after midday on December 23, two men allegedly appeared at the scene and cut down the artwork before running off.
Police have yet to recover the piece of art, but one gallery owner told the BBC at the time it could be worth up to £500,000.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Peak said Banksy’s incorporation of the tree into his Islington artwork would make it impossible to steal.
He said: ‘I don’t think anyone is going to be able to nick this… how are you going to steal a tree?’
The stop sign artwork was widely interpreted by followers of the artist as calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The Instagram revelation led to a stream of locals descending on the site and taking photos of the installation on their phones.
But at around 12.30pm, the peaceful scene was shattered by the arrival of two men, one of whom balanced precariously on an Lime e-bike while hurriedly hacking the sign down with bolt cutters.
Banksy did not comment on the drama of the theft, but had been warned by a social media user: ‘The sign will be snatched pronto.’
Pieces by the rogue artist have previously been sold for millions of pounds.
The drones on the piece resembled those on another artwork, Civilian Drone Strike, which depicted them destroying a house while a little girl and her dog watch on in horror.
It was sold for £200,000 to raise funds in opposition to a London arms fair.
Who is Banksy? How former public schoolboy Robin Gunningham was ‘unmasked’ in 2008
Banksy’s real identity has never been fully confirmed – and speculation continues to surround the mysterious artist.
His career began in the 90s, and he is known by millions of people thanks to the appearance of dozens of iconic artworks in unexpected locations around the world, with many having gone on to sell for millions.
For years his identity has been a hot topic, with names such as Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja and Gorillaz founder Jamie Hewlett being floated around.
Also suggested is public schoolboy Robin Gunningham, who was ‘unmasked’ as Banksy by the Mail On Sunday in 2008 after an investigation into his past.
Regardless of who he his, Banksy’s works are hot property on the art market.
In 2021, his ‘Love is in the Bin’ work was bought for more than £18million, with its value having been boosted after a shredder hidden in its frame cut it to pieces moments after it was sold for the first time in 2018.
The work, previously known as ‘Girl with Balloon’, was just one of more than a dozen of Banksy’s creations that have sold for more than £2million.
Banksy uses art as a form of activism, regularly making societal and political statements with their works.
Having also sprayed his tag across Bristol, Banksy then evolved with the times and began creating more sophisticated pieces, whilst always keeping his identity hidden.
One of Banksy’s earliest works is the The Mild Mild West.
The large mural was painted in 1999 in Bristol’s Stokes Croft and shows a teddy bear throwing a Molotov cocktail at three riot police.
It was painted by the artist over three days in broad daylight and is still in the city today, among some of Banksy’s other works.
The exhaustive MoS investigation into Banksy’s identity heard from dozens of friends, former colleagues, enemies, flatmates and even family members.
The search began with an image of a man in Jamaica at work with his stencils and cans of spray paint.
Although Banksy denied the image showed him, the Mail’s investigation was later backed by researchers at Queen Mary University.
They used ‘geographic profiling’ – a technique more often used to catch criminals or track outbreaks of disease – to plot the locations of 192 of Banksy’s presumed artworks.
The sites indicated ‘hot spots’ which were narrowed down to pinpoint an individual. Peaks within these clusters were found to correlate to a pub, playing fields and residential addresses closely linked to Mr Gunningham and his friends and family.
Mr Gunningham attended Bristol Cathedral School and was born in July 1973. A school photo of him bore a striking resemblance to the man in the Jamaica photograph.
A former school friend described him as being ‘extremely talented’ at art and admitted he would ‘not be at all surprised’ if he was Banksy.
In anonymous interviews he has done, Banksy has said he first became interested in graffiti at school.
And a fellow artist he was living with in Bristol in 1998, Luke Egan, went on to exhibit with Banksy at Santa’s Ghetto, an art store in London’s West End.
However, Mr Gunningham’s family denied that he was Banksy and the link was never explicitly confirmed.
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