Banksy’s Well Hung Lover mural to be sold alongside Bristol building

One of Banksy’s most iconic works, “Well Hung Lover” is set to be auctioned along with the Bristol building it was painted on.

The mural depicts a man dangling from a window while a woman stands nearby, as her enraged partner searches for his love rival.

The Frogmore Street sexual health clinic has since moved, but the mural remains on the building.

Estate agent Hollis Morgan is selling the Grade II-listed five-floor Georgian building in southwest England – and the Banksy with it – with a new 250-year lease at an auction next year. Located near Bristol Cathedral and the University of Bristol, the building’s basement currently functions as a nightclub. However, the estate agent notes that there is potential for conversion into student flats or apartments.

“In addition there is an original Banksy mural (Well Hung Lover) on the Park Street elevation,” reads the property description in the listing, also noting that there is no official Bristol city council policy on street art.

“[…] it is recognised that street art is created not as a permanent work of art but as a form of protest which is usually, but not always, created illegally and without the permission of the owner of the building,” the listing continues, “As such, the life of any image as a work of art will evolve and change over time depending on how the work weathers or indeed is subsequently painted over or removed.”

Though the seller won’t “require a positive obligation on the purchaser to maintain the artwork or insure it”, the buyer will need to “accept a restrictive covenant in the lease ensuring that the image cannot be removed from the building”.

Could you be in the market for property with bonus artistic adornment? The guide price stands at £700,000 (€841,000). Given that Banksy’s self-shredding “Love is in the Bin” sold for over €22 million, this sounds like a bargain.

The live online auction will take place on 12 February 2025.