Shoreditch: the Heart of London's street art

With the street art culture growing and growing over the last few years in the UK, we offer you a visit to Shoreditch, one of the youngest and artistic neighbourhoods in the country.

London is not only one of the most (if not the most) beautiful cities in the world because of its great historical heritage, it is also because of its constant evolution and the contribution of its citizens.

One of them is an expanding form of expression that everyone can appreciate everywhere, aptly named street art.

Shoreditch’s street art is the result of four centuries of history going from the The Theatre building in 1576 where Shakespeare’s first scenes were performed to a cosmopolitan area with gourmet pubs standing before small vintage shops and noodle bars.

As street art usually flourishes in rough and poor neighbourhoods with an important immigrant population, Shoreditch was the perfect area for this new and modern type of art to develop and globalize itself.

With hip hop finding its roots in the 1980s, street art and graffiti find theirs more in the 1890s and they quickly become a real and trending artistic movement.

Shoreditch’s street art is unique

Now that the cultural and historical context is set, let’s talk about Shoreditch street art. As the southern part of the Borough of Hackney, Shoreditch and its artistic murals lie in the East End of London.

London and Shoreditch’s “independent art” special feature is its provocative and messy form that stands let the artists free of expressing themselves however they want to.

From artists known all around the globe such as Banksy to local street ones, Shoreditch welcomes every type of painter and graffer with diverse artistic expressions.

The neighbourhood’s murals are constantly evolving and go from pure artistic expressions to paintings with political matters.

Here is now a small preview of all the great streets and murals that you will find in Shoreditch’s streets and boroughs (with a Shoreditch Street Art interactive map right here):

Shoreditch High Street

High Street is Shoreditch's main road but it is above all where you will find the biggest street art mural in the UK. The street goes from New Inn Yard to King John Court and is a segment of Roman Ermine Street. The great piece is in eight sections on several sides of the Colt telecommunications building and is the addition of many artists work around the theme of "connectivity".

Holywell Lane

Holywell Lane is where the various walls are the street artists greatest painting canvases. There, you will find modern portraits and forms of expressions of young and passionate painters eager to show their work to everyone passing by this small and hidden little pedestrian street.

Ebor Street

Just next to Bethnal Green Road, you will find Ebor Street and its famous Graffiti Life Mural by the famous Londoner artist Benjamin Flynn, aka Eine. This piece is a simple but huge LOVE written in capital and colourful letters.

Great Eastern Street

Nearby Shoreditch Station and above your head, you’ll see two Tube railcars sitting on top of a roof where the "Let’s Adore and Endure Each Other" mural stands. The whole street is painted as the other side of the road's walls are filled with a "Black Lives Matter" street art piece since June 2020.

Rivington Street

Last but not least, head straight to Rivington street, in the courtyard of the Cargo Bar to find two pieces of the world's most famous, yet unknown street artist, Banksy. Both murals date around 2001 when the British graffer was active in this London area and where its first exhibition took place on May the 31 of that same year.