Banksy's Giant Stencil Rat Uncovered on Old Street

For over a decade, a street art rat by Banksy has remained covered to protect it from being painted over. The giant rat was in the centre of demolished buildings in a space known as "Red Gallery", which was a venue for many years for art, entertainment and street food but which had been renamed to "The Last Days of Shoreditch" in more recent years because of the regeneration of the area. The giant rat and a television (which I was not able to capture in the photograph below) was painted in 2004 and then covered in 2007. The only reason I was able to get a photograph of the rat uncovered is because the buildings have recently been knocked down here to make way for a new multi-storey hotel, which will surely make this part of London more soul-less.

Shoreditch loses more of its street art walls in this move, but at least I got to see the rat uncovered as I've known it existed behind the makeshift boarding. The rat was not uncovered for very long, and the last time I visited, the wall had been removed.

Another fact about the rat is that Banksy did not like this piece and hoped that it would be demolished. I am not sure if it has been demolished or if it has been sold, but I did not see the wall when I visited in early September 2019.