BEATLES MURAL IN LONDON UNEXPECTEDLY PAINTED OVER

The Beatles mural in New Oxford Street, which was painted by Mr Brainwash - a protégé of British street artist Banksy

The site now, with the artwork painted over

A MURAL of the Beatles wearing bandanas that was painted on the side of a derelict building in New Oxford Street has disappeared with as much fanfare as it arrived.
The 15ft-high depiction of the Fab Four by French artist Mr Brainwash was plastered on the side of the former Royal Mail sorting office on the corner of Museum Street.
The artwork first appeared in June this year ahead of an exhibition that was held in the building, which is less than 200 metres from the British Museum.
Mr Brainwash, whose real name is Thierry Guetta, is a protégé of British street artist Banksy and took over the five-storey building last summer to exhibit his work, which included giant pots of paint and statues of life-size multicoloured horses.
Kat Graham, who works in the nearby Old Crown, said the mural would be missed by the pub’s customers.
“Everyone I spoke to absolutely loved it,” he said.
Luke Sillet, who works for the website Design My Night in Oxford Street, said he had hoped the mural would stay after the exhibition ended.
He said: “I walked past the mural every day and it brightened the place up. I’m not sure why they’ve been painted over.”
The building was the site of an illegal Halloween rave in 2010 where as many as 500 people took over the building, which was surrounded by hundreds of riot police for much of the night.

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