Tate Britain has removed a reference to its restaurant as “the most amusing room in Europe” after complaints about racist depictions in a 1920s mural. The Rex Whistler restaurant is covered floor to ceiling in a specially commissioned mural by the eponymous British artist titled The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats, which depicts the enslavement of a black child and the distress of his mother. It also shows the boy running behind a horse and cart which he is attached to by a chain around his neck. The Tate website said the restaurant, which is currently closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, was historically described as the most amusing room in Europe because of the mural, but the online text has since been taken down as calls for the artwork to be removed grow. It has been replaced with a new interpretation text that says the gallery is “working to become a space that is more relevant, welcoming and inclusive for everyone … Whistler’s treatment of non-white figures reduces them to stereotypes.” The gallery also removed an extract from a Guardian review of the restaurant, which said the wine list was “long a whispered, greedy little secret among the capital’s bibulous”. The art website The White Pube initially raised the issue last week, and after gaining traction online a petition was started to demandthe mural’s removal. It suggests that either the artwork should be taken down or the restaurant relocated to another room. “The fundamental point of a high class restaurant (used primarily by an older white demographic) being installed with art of this horrific nature is not being acknowledged as the harmful and hateful issue it is,” the petition reads. “[The mural] sounds more like a concept for a horror film than what you would expect Britain’s largest art institution to offer up as an exclusive dining experience,” it says. “Tate Britain allowing this overtly racist painting to remain for diners’ enjoyment is not acceptable.” The mural, commissioned by the Tate director Charles Aitken for the opening of the restaurant, tells the story of an imagined hunting expedition involving the Duke of Epicurania and his courtiers. Along with its depictions of slavery, it features Chinese figures “presented in costume that now suggests caricature”, according to the Tate. The mural was restored in 2013 as part of a £45m revamp. A Tate spokesperson said: “Tate has been open and transparent about the deeply problematic racist imagery in the Rex Whistler mural. In the context of the mayor of London’s recently announced public realm review, we welcome further discussion about it. “Having been commissioned for the restaurant walls in 1927, the mural was one of the artist’s most significant works and is part of a Grade I-listed historic interior. But it is important to acknowledge the presence of offensive and unacceptable content and its relationship to racist and imperialist attitudes in the 1920s and today. “The interpretation text on the wall alongside the mural and on the website addresses this directly as part of our ongoing work to confront such histories, a process that goes hand in hand with championing a more inclusive story of British art and identity today.”