A BANKSY painting that appeared in a Primrose Hill pub garden last week has been branded a fake by the artist s agent. Last week s Ham&High revealed how CCTV footage captured at the Princess of Wales in Chalcot Road showed a hooded figure working on the

A 'BANKSY' painting that appeared in a Primrose Hill pub garden last week has been branded a fake by the artist's agent.

Last week's Ham&High revealed how CCTV footage captured at the Princess of Wales in Chalcot Road showed a hooded figure working on the graffiti image of a little girl with a balloon opposite a lion.

Jo Brooks, speaking on behalf of Banksy, told the Ham&High: "It's a fake. I can't say any more than that. We don't know who did it."

However, landlord Karen Santi is still hopeful because when she originally contacted the guerrilla artist's people they refused to either confirm or deny whether it was genuine.

Pub manager Caroline Santi said: "There has been a mixed reaction - some people are of the hardcore it's-not-a-Banksy school and there are others who say, 'Yes it is'.

"Some think it's political, some say it's about the conflict between Israel and Palestine and others think it's about the football - there are so many different theories and people get so irate about it."

Ham&High reader Daniel Pemberton, of Bermondsey Street, Southwark, accused the pub's owners of performing the stunt themselves as a publicity stunt.

"I'm not even really into Banksy but it took me all of two seconds to spot what a con it was," he wrote.

However, the pub's manager said neither her brother Lawrence nor his wife Karen, would be capable of such an artistic endeavour.

She added: "A lot of people have been coming in and having a look, but it hasn't changed anything that much.