Sofie Attrill, 50, the building's owner, was devastated to see workmen painting the wall black. "I looked out the window and saw what they were doing, so I ran downstairs and I told them to stop. I was in floods of tears, but the guy was just smirking at me. I was screaming at him that he was trespassing because I was so upset.
"I suppose in my naivety we thought it would always be part of Stoke Newington and the street. One of the first things you see when you walk down Church Street is the Banksy. It gave thousands of people a lot of joy and we had people from around the world coming to photograph it."
Emily Thomas, who lives opposite, added: "It's a huge shame that the council has vandalised the Banksy. What was so special about it was that even though Banksy has become so famous, the owner of the building hadn't cashed in like others have, seen it as an investment and covered it with Perspex. She had left it there, as it was, for people to enjoy and take photos.
"It's bizarre that after so many years the council has suddenly decided to remove it. They have created an eyesore in doing so. How could anyone think it's a good idea to paint the whole side of a building black?" The Stoke Newington Banksy showed a spoof version of the Royal Family and was featured as the cover artwork for Blur's 2003 single, Crazy Beat.
The council refuses to differentiate between street art and graffiti. Cllr Alan Laing, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: "The council's position is not to make a judgement call on whether graffiti is art or not. Our task is to keep Hackney's streets clean." The council said it had sent three letters to Ms Attrill asking her to cover up or remove the graffiti. It later discovered she had not received the correspondence because the address was wrong in the Land Registry.
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