Helch graffiti tag from M25 appears on seafront hotel in Brighton

Helch is known for controversially defacing the well-known "give peas a chance" graffiti on a viaduct which crosses the motorway.

The tag, familiar to commuters around the South East, also appeared near Windsor Castle - much to the Queen's upset.

Now, the Leonardo Royal hotel in Kings Road, Brighton, has become the latest victim of the mystery tagger.

The graffiti is yellow and black (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Earlier this week, a tag was left on the top of the southwest corner of the hotel.

The letters "Helch" appeared in block capitals overnight on Monday, February 13.

• Read more: Crackdown on graffiti across the city (these are the streets which have been cleaned)

One onlooker said: "We saw it today and chuckled, because Helch obviously underestimated how much space they required for their name.

"They had to go round the corner of the building to finish it."

The H spans two sides of the building (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Over the last few years, the Helch tag has appeared on bridges over the M4, M1 and M25.

In 2018, graffiti on the Chalfont Viaduct, which read "give peas a chance" was replaced with the words "give Helch a break".

And in 2019, "Helch" appeared on a bridge in a picturesque Windsor Castle view.

The Sun reported that the Queen was "extremely upset" about the graffiti which turned a castle view into "such an eyesore".

It is not clear what Helch means and the tagger's real identity has never been fully confirmed.

Passersby look up at the graffiti (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Photographs of the Leonardo Royal hotel show the prominent yellow and black design.

At the time of writing, the graffiti was yet to be removed by hotel management.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "This is on private property so it is the responsibility of the business to remove it.

"A member of our environment team has spoken to the manager and offered some advice."

The graffiti was over the M25 in Buckinghamshire (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

The Leonardo Royal Hotel, formerly known as the Jurys Inn Waterfront hotel, has 210 rooms at its seafront location.

The hotel was rebranded to the Leonardo Royal in late 2022, after Jurys Inn merged with international firm Leonardo Hotels. 

Leonardo Hotels has been approached for comment.