Leake street tunnel: behind the doors
This tunnel at the back of Waterloo station was made a success by Banksy in 2008 with the can festival: the walls were legally free to be tagged by graffiti artists and Banksy presented amazinf works of art too. A hit, a crowd!
Since then, the place is a lot more quiet…
It still remains a street artist headquarters though. Even if they’re coming to London for a few days, they like to come and live their signature there. No matter that the paintings only remain a few days, sometimes a few hours before being covered by someone else’s. Mostly, you’ll find graffitis such as we discovered them in the 80ies. But do come regularly and you’ll find such treasures…
Last year, yarnbombing even was a guest star…
You will sometimes hear classical music. Your sanity is intact - this is the town hall’s effort to remind everyone this is to be a peaceful, creative place. Althout the city employees coming to do a few repairs do love to switch the radio full volume.
Hidden by the graffitis, the tunnel also has a few arches closed by doors. Those are private - not the city’s at all - and the owner (once Eurostar) do rent the space. Banksy had his one night cinema here to launch his movie Exit through the gift shop… Even exibitions openings have taken place here: I have hapened to walk pass a line of VIPs dressed smartly…
But you’ll also find…
… A black cab car wash…
… More graffitis by fellow artists…
… and even a repair station for these cycle-taxis!
Leake Street
London SE1 7NN
7 Responses to “Leake street tunnel: behind the doors ”
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ca a l’air sympa ici! j’aime beaucoup le graph avec les têtes de femmes asiatiques. bisous!
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Cela me rappelle justement la balade que nous avions faite ensemble le long de South Bank : c’est toi qui m’avais montré tous ces petits trésors que je n’avais jamais remarqués avant. Comme tu le fais depuis avec ton blog… alors : merci !
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Chocoralie says:
Melody: certains jours, on trouve des oeuvres sublimes, d’autres pas. Du coup… on y revient constemment… au cas ou!
Eva: je n’ai pas le merite de cette adresse-la. C’est Celine qui me l’avait faire decouvrir en premier, mais je la ratisse pour deux desormais…
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