Published: 10 February, 2014
by ALINA POLIANSKAYA

IT was revealed last week that Camden Council is so attached to its Banksy artwork stenciled on the side of its block of offices that, when it sells the building, developers will be required to safely remove it and hand it back to the Town Hall.

While the council cracks down on graffiti, it has nearly always had a more relaxed approach to Banksy, and Camden has used a Perspex screen to protect the stencil of a rat holding up a placard with an exclamation mark on the side of the Town Hall extension in King’s Cross.

The borough has been a happy hunting ground for Banksy over the years, particularly along the Regent’s Canal. Most famous of all in street art circles is probably the battle of the spray-cans between him and legendary 1990s graffiti artist King Robbo.

The feud began after Banksy painted over his rival’s iconic tag that had been under a bridge since 1985. When Robbo and his team retaliated by repainting it once more, the war of wits and paintbrushes continued, and only came to end when Robbo fell into a coma.

Banksy laid the feud to rest by painting back Robbo’s original piece with the small addition of a crown. This too has been scrawled over by someone else.

Tom Blackford, a graffiti artist who grew up in Swiss Cottage and is known to many as “Ink Fetish”, said: “The council protecting Banksy’s work leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Protecting one artist’s work for monetary reasons sends bizarre messages to those who are also actively involved with painting property without permission, a lot of whom end up being arrested and charged with ridiculous jail terms.”

From tags scrawled on to walls, to huge, colourful pieces which include tributes to legends such as Amy Winehouse, street art is everywhere in Camden Town. It has even worked its way into shopfronts, commissioned by owners to give their venues a contemporary vibe.

If you regard Banksy as grafitti, then the note on Camden Council’s website might be of interest: “Graffiti is illegal, anti-social, degrades the local environment and is costly to remove.” 

It even offers a graffiti removal service, which, of course, it has not taken up for its Banksy rat.

Here’s some of the street art – or graffiti – you can see in Camden Town this week: