Banksy pledges to help save Reading jail with stencil sale

Banksy has offered to raise millions of pounds towards buying Reading Prison where Oscar Wilde was once held, so it can be turned into an arts venue.

The artist has promised to match the jail's £10m asking price by selling the stencil he used to paint on the Grade II-listed building in March.

He said: "Converting the place that destroyed him [Wilde] into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it."

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said: "The deadline for bids has passed."

It added: "We are currently considering the ones we received."

A spokesperson for Banksy told the BBC the pledge of the funds was dependent on the MoJ awarding the bid to Reading Borough Council and the jail being turned into a centre for the arts.

The street artist said: "I had very little interest in Reading until I was on a rail replacement bus service that went past the jail.

"It's rare to find an uninterrupted 500m-long paintable surface slap bang in the middle of a town; I literally clambered over the passenger next to me to get a closer look.

"I promised myself I'd paint the wall even before I knew what it was - I'm passionate about it now, though.

"Oscar Wilde is the patron saint of smashing two contrasting ideas together to create magic. Converting the place that destroyed him into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it."

Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading East, said the street artist's pledge was "an incredible boost to the campaign" to save the prison from developers.

He said: "Banksy has been incredibly generous and this is the best Christmas present Reading could wish for.

"I've been speaking to Banksy and his team for some months now and I'm impressed with his commitment to saving the prison.

"He really sees the potential in this important historic building, which not only has links to Oscar Wilde but is built on top of the site of the former Reading Abbey, where King Henry I was buried."

The MP added: "I do hope the government now listen and consider this bid - both the money from the council and the arts community - and look at this again, and help us turn the jail into an arts hub for our community and the country as a whole."

Toby Davies, the artistic director for Rabble Theatre in Reading, said it would be "criminal" for the MoJ to turn down the artist's offer.

He said: "Banksy is offering an incredible amount of money which will go directly to the MoJ for the public benefit.

"Banksy's offer is phenomenal and if the MoJ turn that down then I consider that a criminal act."

Banksy confirmed earlier this year that he was behind the artwork which shows a prisoner - possibly resembling famous inmate Oscar Wilde - escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter.

The jail famously housed Wilde between 1895 and 1897 and was immortalised by his poem Ballad of Reading Gaol during his stay, which reflected on the brutality of the Victorian penal system.

He was convicted after his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas was exposed.

The prison has been derelict since 2013 and was put up for sale by the government in 2019.

A deal to sell the Grade II-listed site to developers fell through last year and Reading council renewed its bid to turn it into an arts complex.

Hollywood actors Sir Kenneth Branagh, Kate Winslet, Natalie Dormer and Dame Judi Dench are among the stars who have lent their support to the campaign.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.