Fish shop owner was worried someone would break in after Banksy artwork appeared

The owner of a London fish bar whose shopfront became a canvas for Banksy has said he was “worried” someone might steal or damage the artwork or even break in after it appeared.

George Christou, 37, who runs Bonners Fish Bar in Walthamstow, east London, was on holiday when the art piece was unveiled and said his phone “went mad” after Banksy confirmed he had created the silhouette of pelicans pinching fish from his shop sign.

Speaking to the PA news agency on the day of the takeaway’s reopening, Mr Christou said: “On the day (the artwork appeared), about 10.30 at nighttime, some local customer actually messaged me with a photo saying, ‘Oh, someone’s doing graffiti on your wall’.

“I thought ‘God, just finally while I’m away’. Because we were in a different country it was quite late, so I couldn’t really do anything about it.

“So I was like, I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

The street artist, whose identity is unknown but widely speculated on, created nine pieces for an animal-themed collection last month, unveiling the works by posting photos daily at around 1pm.

Mr Christou said: “We were waiting for one o’clock and at one o’clock, pretty much dead on UK time, he put it on his Instagram, and then my phone was just going mad. Notifications here, new people following you on Instagram, someone wants to speak to you.

“Family I haven’t heard from for a while were like, ‘This is amazing George, what do you think?’ – I don’t really know what to think at the moment.

“Obviously, it’s amazing. But then I was sort of getting worried and scared because I wasn’t there at the shop. And so I was thinking what’s gonna happen?

“Is someone gonna try and steal it or break in or damage it? You don’t really know what what people will do.”

Before the pelican artwork was unveiled, Banksy created a silhouette of a howling wolf on a satellite dish in Peckham which was taken less than an hour after it was confirmed as authentic.

Another piece in his collection, a silhouette of a rhino was, defaced by a man wearing a black balaclava just hours after it went up.

Mr Christou, who closes the shop every August to go on holiday, said he decided to speak to his local MP and someone from an art shop about getting the artwork on his shop covered up in order to protect it.

According to him they paid for a security team to look after it for “three or four” nights to “make sure nobody was was trying to damage it or steal anything or break in”.

He added that he could “breathe a little bit more” after he was able to get it covered “because no one was going to damage it”.

Mr Christou, who said there was “a fair few people” at the fish bar during reopening, reflected on whether Banksy’s artwork could positively impact his business.

“It’s always busy anyway, when we come back, regardless of the Banksy or anything, people haven’t eaten (here) in a month,” he said.

“I don’t know how, what effect it is going to have on the business. I know a lot of people have been taking photos while we’ve been closed, because we’ve seen them on Instagram and online.

“I mean, you think it would have some positive effect, but again, we don’t really know until we reopen for a couple of weeks, two, three weeks, and we sort of see what the takings are like and how much fish we’re selling. So it’s hard to tell.”

Artwork from Banksy has been known to sell for millions of pounds with a partially shredded painting selling for £18,582,000 at auction in 2021.

Reflecting on whether he would ever sell his shop, which now comes with a Banksy, Mr Christou said: “We’ve been here for a very, very long time, so we feel part of the community.

“I remember when we came here, (there were) kids going to school, and now they’ve grown up and taking their own kids to school.

“So we feel like we’re part of the furniture.”

He added: “So selling-wise we’ve never thought about it, but it’s quite a hard year for us this year because everything’s sort of gone up and we don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of the year.

“We just have to keep on going until we can’t go any more.”

Mr Christou has had people contact him in the past about putting artwork on his wall but said it never came to fruition “for whatever reason”.

“Maybe it was just meant to be. I was meant to have it (the wall) covered two times, but for whatever reason, that didn’t happen, and then obviously, now that Banksy has decided to do it on our wall – maybe everything happens for a reason.

“The reason I like it is because it’s just simple. It’s not too detailed. Sometimes simple is better. And it’s pretty cool, the way he linked in the fish on the sign.”