A warm-hearted graffiti artist has taken on a lout who daubed walls with claims Father Christmas doesn’t exist – by painting a jolly Santa over the top.
The grinch scrawled the words ‘Santa isn’t real’ on a wall in the middle of Whitstable, Kent – making parents of young children furious.
But a local graffiti artist known only as Catman has help recreate the fairytale illusion by creating a picture of Santa painting out the claims he doesn’t exist.
The Christmas cartoon has been welcomed by local councillors, who are usually harsh critics of all graffiti.
Cllr John Wratten said: “The original has been there for a long time so I guess it needed updating and it has been done tastefully, with typical Whitstable good humour.
“Santa is a lucky man – he has become better looking with age. I like it but I hope it doesn`t start an outbreak of graffiti, tasteful or otherwise.”
The colourful depiction of St Nick appeared next to the original graffiti last weekend, when it is believed the artist painted it overnight.
Other pictures believed to have been the work of Catman have appeared across the town, including pictures of Marilyn Monroe on traffic bollards.
The style of the artwork has been likened to that of Banksy – an anonymous graffiti artist whose works have appeared across the world.
