Yeah, it's a delight. I can't claim complete innocence though, in the early 90's I helped my dad put it on the ceiling in our kitchen - although to be fair it was to cover up repairs made after water damage.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Really, the only realistic options are taking the wall back to brick (or ripping down and replacing the ceiling), or plastering over it. We've gone with the latter throughout the house, which means our ceilings look lush, but that's it really. Next time they'll need to be taken down.