City of London and the Banksy Pirahna fish tank in a Police Call box

Banksy’s fish tank police box on the move along with the rat on a junction box

August 31, 2025 artofthestate

Doctor Who’s Tardis is the World’s most famous Police Phone box known for disappearing and re-materialising in new places – but it’s got a new rival.

Banksy’s fish tank in a City of London Police box first appeared in 2024 and was removed from the street, only to appear a few days later in the Guildhall. Where it stayed until just recently, when news came in that it’s on the move again to appear on the new London Museum when it opens in 2026 (the revamped and relocated Museum of London).

Banksy Piranha fish tank in a City of London Police call box, right in the heart of the city and under the full glare of nearby CCTV

Photo of City of London and the Banksy Pirahna fish tank in a Police Call box — City of London worker inspects the Banksy artwork on an old Police Call box

Elsewhere the rat on a clock on a junction box outside of Banksy’s Gross Domestic Product store in Croydon has finally reappeared too. Rarely heard of since 2019 it’s now to be found on the first floor of the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. Having been carefully removed within minutes of Banksy’s store that never opened’s closure, it’s maybe the most perfectly preserved bit of genuine Banksy street art in a very long time.

Banksy Gross Domestic Product store — The junction box first appeared outside Banksy’s Gross Domestic Product store in Croydon. While all the other exhibits were behind glass, this rat was spray painted onto a TFL junction box

A close up of the Banksy rat hanging off a clock at the GDP store.

Transport for London worker removing the Banksy artwork on a TFL junction box. — TFL worker carefully removing the Banksy artwork on a junction box outside the Gross Domestic Product store in Croydon. They didn’t hang around either, the door was whisked away as soon as the store that never opened closed.

Banksy's GDP junction box now appears in the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden — Banksy’s GDP junction box now appears in the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden

By the box is a panel that reads:

Banksy street art, 2019

In October 2019, a pop-up shop that never opened called ‘Gross Domestic Product’ mysteriously appeared on Church Street in Croydon. For two weeks it displayed a series of ‘homewares’ created by Banksy, the anonymous street artist who rose to fame in 1990s Bristol. Banksy’s spray-painted and stencilled artworks combine social commentary with dark humour.

This artwork is on the door of a signal controller cabinet that stood on the pavement outside the shop.

A rat hangs from the arms of a clock, which linked to a series of clocks inside the shop window showing rats running in circles. Rats are a common motif in Banksy’s work, symbolising grim survival amid the grittiness of urban life.

Recognising its cultural significance, TfL removed this piece of their street furniture shortly after the closure of the shop and passed it to the Museum collection.

Whatever your view of Banksy’s work, it is undeniably a prominent part of UK art and culture, and this artwork is part of London’s story.

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