Headington shark, Oxford, being cleaned - but there's a problem

Jake Collett, manager of Oxford-based Elite Valeting Services, said the discovery of a wasp nest inside the roof scuppered plans to use high-reach pressure hoses to strip dirt and moss from the famous sculpture.

He said: “We got up there, saw the wasps and tried to clean a little but ended up having to call pest control.”

Mr Collett said it added to an already unusual job for the pressure cleaning business, which is more used to dealing with conservatories and solar panels than a 25ft fibreglass shark.

He said: “When a woman called a week or so ago asking if we could clean a shark I thought I had misheard at first. Once she explained I was obviously very excited.”

With the wasps now removed, Mr Collett and colleague Scott Hambridge will return today to finish cleaning the shark before it is repainted.

Though today an Oxford institution, when the sculpture was originally installed by Oxford Mail columnist Bill Heine without planning permission on August 9, 1986, it sparked a six-year legal battle with the city council.

The American eventually appealed to then Environment Secretary, Lord Heseltine, with an inspector ruling in favour of the artwork in 1992 stating: “Any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky.”

The house was bought by Mr Heine’s son Magnus Hanson-Heine in 2016 in a bid to save the shark from being removed as part of efforts to make the four-bedroom property more marketable.

It is now a star attraction on Air bnb, where it is rented out to those looking to stay in an Oxford landmark for £199 a night.

Writing in the Guardian last year about his decision to buy the house, he said the bank was threatening to repossess the property and it was looking ‘increasingly likely’ the much-loved piece of art might be destroyed.

He added: “I couldn’t allow that to happen. In the end, I agreed to preserve this piece of history and join the fight for its survival.”

It is not the first time this year work has been done to preserve the shark.

In February, roofers were spotted at the New High Street house, with Len Stevens of Admiral Roofing, saying he had been called in to fix the roof around the shark, which has been leaking in to the house below.

An application has also been put in to have the ‘shark house’ listed on Oxford City Council's Heritage Asset Register, which would offer it extra protection in perpetuity. A decision is due to be made in the autumn.