Haringey Banksy plea successful

Residents of the London borough of Haringey will no doubt be celebrating tonight as their campaign to bring a stolen Banksy artwork back to their community appears to have been successful.

The mural, which was entitled 'Slave Labour' and featured a little boy making British bunting with a sewing machine, was last week stolen from the wall of the pound shop in North London.

Banksy, who is best known for his stencilled art style and the mystery surrounding his identity, has produced artwork that fetches hundreds of thousands of pounds. So it was of little surprise when Slave Labour appeared on a US auction website priced at around £450,000.

Fellow graffiti artists had left tributes on the wall where the painting used to be, although it would seem the original artwork could soon be returned there.

A campaign led by Haringey District Council led to Slave Labour being withdrawn from the auction at the last minute, on the very day it was supposed to go under the hammer.

The authority welcomed the news, with council leader Claire Kober commenting: "It's a true credit to the community that their campaigning appears to have helped stop the sale of this artwork from going ahead."

While it could be a while before the Banksy is restored to its rightful location, Ms Kober committed the council to exploring "all options to bring back Banksy to the community where it belongs".

As part of the campaign to prevent the auction from going ahead, Haringey residents wrote to culture secretary Maria Miller, as well as Miami’s Fine Art Auction House where the sale had been due to take place.

'Slave Labour' initially appeared in Haringey on a wall at the corner of Whymark Avenue and Wood Green High Road in May 2012, just days before the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee.

Published 25th February, 2013

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