A disputed artwork by renowned street artist Banksy looks set to be returned to the boy’s club which claimed it, after the artist expressed willing to help keep the club afloat.

The artwork, which shows a couple embracing while checking their mobile phones, has been valued at anywhere up to £4m and was removed by the nearby Broad Plain Boys’ Club to be put on display inside the centre, with entrants charged a viewing fee, shortly after its initial discovery.

Bristol City Council however, argued that the work was on its land and the piece was taken to a museum for safekeeping until the owner of the work could be determined.

The graffito is likely to be returned to paid display as a pop-up attraction until the work is sold, with a nominal fee being charged for visitors to view the piece.

The city’s oldest boys’ club is under threat of closure, with the registered charity needing to raise £120,000 by the end of the year to avoid shutting down. Dennis Stinchcombe, who runs the club, made an appeal in February for the community to help the club in its time of need.

Banksy wrote to the club to tell them that he was a “great admirer” of work done by the club and would be “chuffed” if his work could help it stay afloat. The artist then told the club it could do what it felt “was right” with the piece.

Bristol Mayor George Ferguson, who contacted Banksy's representative, confirmed the note was really from the artist.

"This is a proper resolution - we've done our job by looking after it and in the meantime we've collected a bit more for the boys' club, and thousands of people in Bristol and farther afield have seen it,” he said.

The nature of Banksy's work has led to peaked interest in areas not usually in the public eye, to the point where governing bodies such as Cheltenham Borough Council have said his work would be protected in an effort to drum up interest around the artist's chosen canvases.