Burley Banksy 'gutted' after street art repainted
People in the community have set up a petition to get the artwork back up
Last updated 25th Jun 2021
Andy McVeigh, better known as Burly Banksy, has been left gutted and disappointed after BT repainted his artwork in Rothwell.
It follow complaints from a few residents.
The 'You look nice today Rothwell' and the 'Rothwell mixtape' have been painted over.
However, the large majority of people in Rothwell aren't happy with the decision and have now set up a petition to get the art work back up.
Burley Banksy said:
"The residents are gutted and annoyed and have written to the local councillor. That petition has far outweighed the number of complaints by a 100 times.
"She lost her little girl a few years ago, so I thought it would be a kind of thing to make her smile when she's on way to my mums."
"It took me hours and hours to do each one, so obviously I'm pretty gutted.
"Especially as I did one for my sister, a cassette tape, because I used to do her mix tapes when we were younger, so it was a bit of a nostalgic trip for her when she goes to see my mum and dad in Rothwell.
"She lost her little girl a few years ago, so I thought it would be a kind of thing to make her smile when she's on way to my mums."
In a statement, Openreach said:
“We’ve already been in touch with Burley Banksy to talk this through and we’re keen to continue that conversation directly.
We’ve worked with many communities and groups in the past, all over the UK, who've wanted to paint our green cabinets to reflect themes important to them – and we have a simple permissions process which allows us to consider these requests in the context of our commercial, legal and health and safety obligations.
Whilst we agree with any messages of support for the NHS and key workers, we weren’t asked if our cabinets could be painted and much of this artwork isn’t related to keyworkers but is instead being used for commercial gain.
We’ve also received several complaints from local people unhappy with the artwork – which we have to take into consideration. We’re keen to continue the conversation with both the artist and the wider community to see if we can find a solution that works for everyone.”