A YORK pub landlord was amazed when he drove into his car park and saw a Banksy-style artwork on a wall.

Dan Murphy, who runs The Lighthorseman in Fulford Road, said: "I just did a double take."

He said he had 'absolutely no idea' who had painted it or why, or what it meant. "It just popped up," he said.

The picture, painted on the wall of an outbuilding, shows a figure with a pointed hat, carrying the message:'"It's not me, it's t'others.'

Asked if it was meant to be Guy Fawkes, but with too pointy a hat, Dan said he didn't know, but he liked the picture, and said customers did too.

He said there had been speculation that it might actually be a Banksy - a work by the pseudonymous street artist whose satirical street art and subversive epigrams, executed with a distinctive stencilling technique, have appeared on streets, walls and bridges across the world.

"Someone said that if it were a Banksy, it would be worth more than the pub!" he added.

He posted on the pub's Facebook page: "We’ve had a piece of Banksy-esque wall art appear overnight at the pub  - anyone know who the artist is?"

But no one had a clue, and no one responded to a similar request for information on The Press' website.

One person suggested that if it was a real Banksy, it would be confirmed by the artist posting it on his Instagram page, and no such image appeared - so it may just have been a local artist's admirable efforts.

Greg McGee, owner of the York art gallery According to McGee, said:"Whether or not it's a Banksy isn't the issue.

"What's important is it's diverted attention from the homogeneity of York - the anti-social behaviour, people drinking too much, the litter - and it's great. 

"And it's quite witty. Banksy would approve."

Anne Braithwaite, of The Braithwaite Gallery in Low Petergate, said she sent the image to a friend who was more knowledgeable about Banksy.

"He says that it’s in Banksy’s style, but there are so many people copying, that we won’t know until the artist acknowledges it," she said.

"This painting is not particularly controversial, anti establishment or political, and Banksy’s works are usually quite thought provoking.

"Apart from being a similar colour palette, I don’t get that feel from this one. It’s great for York that there’s a conversation about it though."

This isn't the first time York has got caught up in Banksy mania.

At the height of the Covid pandemic in May 2020, York City fans got excited when it seemed that Banksy murals might have appeared on the club's old Bootham Crescent stadium's walls.

But it turned out that the club's press officer Dan Simmonite had used computer software to create the images to help promote his NHS fund raising.

He said he was auctioning them on eBay to raise funds for a York Teaching Hospital charity, adding: "It was a bit of a laugh. It takes people's minds off what is happening in the world at the moment."