Banksy's hula-hooping girl artwork bicycle, thought to be stolen, replaced

The bicycle, which formed part of a hula-hooping girl artwork by Banksy, and went missing over the weekend has been replaced with a new bike. According to Sky News, the bicycle was apparently retained by the owners of the property for safekeeping and has been replaced with a new one. Earlier, it was reported that the bicycle went missing over the weekend from the site in Nottingham, where it was placed by the street artist. 

Read: Banksy's Nottingham Hula-hooping Girl Artwork 'ransacked', Bicycle Goes Missing

'Wasn't stolen'

The bicycle that completed Banksy's latest hula-hooping girl graffiti represented an important part of Nottingham's history and residents were worried that it had been stolen. However, the city council has said that the bike wasn't stolen and has been retained by the owners of the property, who have replaced it with a new bike. The artwork has been a target of vandalism since its installation as it had been damaged twice with spray paints, which prompted the city council to cover it with a transparent sheet. 

Read: British Street Artist Banksy Confirms New Artwork Of Girl With Hula-hoop, In Nottingham

When the bike went missing, it worried many who thought that the artwork has been targetted again, but it now appears that it was deliberately removed. The artwork appeared on the walls of a beauty salon last month and was later claimed by Banksy, an anonymous street artist based out of the United Kingdom who is known for his satirical and socially-woke works.

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The artwork captures the part when thousands of workers became jobless as a result of Raleigh bikes closing down its factory in 2002. The over a century-old Raleigh bicycle company was based out of Nottingham and was considered the pride of the city until it shut down all its plants in the country and decided to import low-cost high-quality bicycles from developing countries. 

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