Street artist Banksy hits Wapping but has work painted over

A piece of graffiti street artist Banksy is believed to have created on a Wapping block of flats has been painted over.

The elusive artist is thought to be behind the image of a plane making a heart-shaped smoke loop in New Tower Buildings in Wapping High Street that went up earlier this month but all that is left now are blurred paint marks.

Residents’ group, Tower Buildings took to Twitter to express their dismay at the paint job, writing: “Our lovely Bansky is no more... Short lived but it’ll be fondly remembered.”

The artwork was similar to one that appeared on the wall of a city centre carpark in Liverpool around the same time but that piece has since been vandalised.

The Liverpool image featured on the official Banksy website, suggesting that the Wapping version was also the real deal.

Tower Hamlets Council said New Tower Buildings are privately owned and said it was not council street workers who removed the graffiti.

It is not the first time the Bristol-based artist has visited the East End with his spray cans in tow.

In 2007, the image which has come to be known as Yellow Lines Flower Painter appeared on the wall of a building on Pollard Street, Bethnal Green.

The image used double yellow lines on the road as a starting point and extended them onto the pavement and up the side of a building where they turned into a flower.

A street worker holding a large painting roller sat below the lines.