Port Talbot Banksy is taken down and moved to England
“I wanted to create an international street art museum – but Neath Port Talbot council wouldn’t let me”
John Brandler, owner of Seasons Greetings, has been approached through the fence from local people disappointed the painting is being removed. He said it wasn’t his decision to remove the painting, and said he wanted to create a street art museum in Port Talbot, drawing 150,000 people to the town each year.
Owner of Brandler’s Galleries and Season’s Greetings itself, John Brandler said he was “sad” to have to remove the painting from Port Talbot (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)
Explaiining what’s happening today, he said: “We’re taking Banksy’s painting Season’s Greetings which was painted in Port Talbot three years ago and we’re taking it away and putting it into storage. “The council [Neath Port Talbot Council] sent me a letter last year to say ‘take it away’ and so that’s what we’re doing, we’re complying with the insutrctions of the council.
“The original intention was to create an international-level street art museum here in Port Talbot. There are five in the world and I wanted to create the sixth. And we were going to use Banksy, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Cors, My Dog Sighs, Pure Evil, all that sort of thing – major international artists.
“And it wasn’t wanted, because they’re not Welsh. So, we’ve left it here, the building owners were amazing, they gave the building to the council for GBP1 a year, to create a street art museum, to bring about 150,000 to 200,000 people a year to the town to look at the artwork. “We based it on the nearest example gets 550,000 visitors a year, so I thought 150,000 was a safe figure to use.”
He continued: “The idea was that it would regenerate the town, but the town didn’t want it to happen. The individuals in the town wanted it to happen, the local shops…” Mr Brandler was then interrupted by a member of the public talking to him through the fence.
Mr Brandler wanted to create an international-level street art museum in Port Talbot – but claims his plans were rejected by Neath Port Talbot Council (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)
He told her: “Why are you so determined in your opinion that no-one else cares about this?”
Another member of the public asked Mr Brandler when he was going to “pay us all back” and said it was “shocking” that the artwork was being removed. Mr Brandler replied: “I agree with you, it is shocking. It should stay here, and it should have been displayed.
“It took me nine months of nagging to get the council to switch one lightbulb on. Your council didn’t want it displayed.” He continued: “It is a fiasco, I started to create a museum here bringing 150,000 tourists a year into your town, spending money in your town, in your hotels, in your newsagents, in your coffee shops, in your sticky bun shops and it’s the local council that didn’t want it to happen.
“The idea was to create a street art museum here.” “Everybody is happy to complain, but nobody actually does anything. So when the council put in writing that I have to take it away, by law, I have to take it away,” he added.
Locals have expressed their disappointment that Season’s Greetings is being removed (Image: John Myers/WalesOnline)
Mr Brandler also said he has received threats, which he also received when he was asked to remove a Banksy painting from Nottingham.
He claimed: “I got even worse [threats] from Nottingham.
The owner was going to waterjet it [the painting] off the building, so I preserved it and I got death threats.
“And when I reported the death threats to the police, the first question is ‘what’s your name?,’ the second question is ‘what’s your date of birth?,’ to prove who you are, and the third question is ‘what’s your ethnicity?’ and then they said they weren’t going to do anything about it.”