Photographer delighted to find Banksy-style artwork on his Northampton driveway

The arrival of a Banksy-style piece of art on a private driveway near The Racecourse has delighted the owner, who is a photographer and multi-media artist himself.

Allan Levy was alerted to the artwork on the wall, which is communally owned by Allan and the owner of the next door garage, on Monday night when his family sent him a link to a Chronicle & Echo Tweet about the piece.

The artwork appears to have been inspired by a online theory that the former presenter of children’s art show Art Attack, Neil Buchanan, is in fact the anonymous street artist Banksy.

The artist and presenter denied the theory on Twitter at the weekend, saying “contrary to the recent media frenzy – I am honestly, hand on heart, NOT Banksy.”

The picture shows Neil Buchanan holding a paint spray can and unmasking himself as the world-renowned street artist, and includes the Banksy logo and a rat running off towards Brick Kiln Lane.

Allan, who rents out his flat so wasn’t in the building when the piece was created, is a multi-media artist himself with work on the Saatchi Art website, where he sold a piece to a collector last year.

A big fan of street art himself, he said: “I was blown away when I saw it.”

As soon as he heard about the artwork he contacted pestcontroloffice.com, which verifies Banksy artwork.

Allan said: “I got an email to say it wasn’t by Banksy. I understand Banksy confirms all his work on Instagram.

“Even if it’s not a real Banksy, it’s certainly a great piece of art. I love street art and have included that style in some of my own work, so when I moved

into the flat here six years ago I looked at that wall and thought about getting a good street artist to do something there.

“I never got around to it and moved out a few years ago, but this is beyond anything I could have dreamed of.”

Allan also hosts an Airbnb room on his property and he hopes street art enthusiasts will love this extra attraction.

As a professional photographer (allanlevyphotography.co.uk), he couldn’t wait to get onto the site to take pictures and this morning as soon as there was enough light he got down there to make sure it was recorded in all its glory.

He had only recently cut back some plants that were hanging over onto the wall and said: “I’m glad I did that last week, at least the artist had a clear space to work with.”

The question is, if it wasn’t Banksy… who was it?

Email [email protected] if you know who created the street art.