Enjoy the street art in East London with our self guided walking tour

Looking for an offbeat thing to do in London? Go and explore the street art in East London with our self guided walking tour.

The streets of Bricklane and Shoreditch have many mesmerising graffiti art that you cannot find in any art museums.

In our guide, we have highlighted some of the best places to find street art in East London and self guided walking tour route. 

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London is one city that you can never get bored, no matter how many times you visit.  The diversity and buzz in London is amazing, and there is always plenty of things to do in London.  One of the quirkiest place in London is East London.

The area is not just popular for asian community and curry house. East London is one of the best places to see street art. It is a place for thriving and successful graffiti artists.

Suggested Reading: Top 5 things to do in Little Venice, London

Every street lanes in Brick Lane and Shoredich is a kalaedoscope of art work by the artists.  It is possible to do a self guided walking tour at your own pace.

Alternatively, there are organised walking tours who not only know the locations and lanes of the hidden street art, but also can tell you stories behind each creation and artist.

Each of these spaces are allocated to specific graffiti artist. Most importantly, the face of these streets are ever changing – the art you see today might be gone tomorrow.  The artists sometimes keep the painting for weeks, but it might be gone next day as well with another beautiful creative.

Everything about Street Art East London

Top places to see street art in East London

Here are some of the street names where you can find Street art in Shore Ditch and Bricklane. While it is possible to wander through the streets and look at the art, taking a walking tour does give you lot of insight and stories of the artists and graffiti art. 

• BrickLane
• Fashion Street
• Rivingston Street
• Cremer Street
• Princelet Street
• Shoreditch High Street
• Wilkes Street
• Hanbury Street
• Buxton Street
• Courtyard on Bricklane

While the top list is only a guideline, there are every corners of street where you can find an artist spraying away his passion. We went on a walking tour, and were completely mesmerised by each and every corner that was filled with not just colours, but wonderful messages and loads of emotions.

Artists behind the street art in East London

One of the most prominent street artist in East London is the Belgian artist ROA. Popularly known for his Crane art against a start red background, which has become quite an identity in Brick Lane. ROA generally paints animal and bird graffitis with minimal or no colours.

Banksy is yet another popular artist, whose identity is not confirmed, and is subject to lot of speculation. His art contains dark humour and are satirical. 

Stik, Jimmy C, Mr Cenz, Ben Eine, David Walker are some of the prominent artists whose graffiti art work can be found in the streets of Shoreditch.

So, here we are, presenting to you some of the most beautiful art work from our collections and a self guided walking tour that you can easily do by yourself.

Self guided walking tour to explore street art in East London

Some tour companies provide free walking tours in East London. While they are good, the tour guides are quick and you need to rush to the next place, and next place.  

Doing the self guided walking tour is one of the best options, in our opinion. It lets you explore the art at your pace.

There are many walking routes and options depending on where you begin the tour. Two of the popular metro stations from where you can start the tours are Shoreditch Old Station and Liverpool Street. You can begin the tour in one and end in another – either ways! 

In this guide, we will be taking you through route 1 which is Shoreditch – Bricklane – Liverpool Street. 

Part 1 of the walking tour begins with a walk from Shoreditch old Station. Walk towards Rivingston Street, and then take right into Great Eastern Street.  

Continue to walk and turn left into Holywell Lane. A short walk from here to Shoreditch High Street. You can skip this, and alternatively walk to Ebor Street, Whitby Street and finally to Sclater Street. 

Continue to walk in Sclater Street to do part 2 of the walking tour.  The other end of Sclater Street is Brick Lane.

Explore Code Street to see the unused Shoreditch underground, and adjacent Buxton Street, before joining back Brick Lane.

You can find graffiti art in most of the adjourning streets of Bricklane. First at Hanbury Street and Wilkes Street, followed by Princelet Street.

Continue on Brick Lane for few yards until you find Heneage Street on your left. Then into Brick Lane again, turn right into Fashion street, and continue your walk past Commercial Street.

Explore Tonybee Street followed by Bell Lane before ending the tour and walking to Liverpool Street metro station. Alternatively you can also walk to Aldgate metro station. 

This is a rough guideline to your walking tour and has only some of the most prominent places and streets that we have seen.

There are many other streets,  tiny lanes  and hidden gems where you can still spot street art.  Because East London is a treasure trove of street art. 

Allow yourself a minimum of 2-3 hours if you want to walk through all these streets, take photographs and videos.  

There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian restaurants peppered through East London. You can check out our recommendations in the bottom of this article. 

Some of the best street art in East London

Check out the Entry Ticket prices for the popular London attractions

Where to stay in East London

If you are looking for accommodations in and around Shoreditch, we recommend The Hoxton, Shoreditch.

Alternatively, there are many hotels in Aldgate, Bethnal Green, Spiltafields and Hackney which are close to Shoreditch, and gives you access to top attractions in London.

Leman Locke is a perfect mid-range hotel in Aldgate with aesthetic colours, simple, minimalistic yet comfortable rooms.

With stunning designs and views of Shoreditch neighbourhood, Boundary London in Spitalfields are a another good option to consider.  Hilton London Canary Wharf isn’t too far away either. 

Best Vegan Restaurants in East London

Shoreditch is not just all about street art and graffiti. Food scene in Shoreditch is as spectacular as its colourful streets, more so particularly for vegans.

There are plenty of go-to vegan cafes and restaurants when it comes to Shoreditch. Here are some of our top recommendations. 

Unity Diner, 60 Wentworth St, Spitalfields: A non-profit and sustainable vegan cafe and bar, they have hot dogs, burgers, tofish and chips and a large selection of desserts to choose from.

Vegan Yes, 64 Brick Lane: A fantastic korean-italian fusion themed cafe where you can have pasta and kimchi together. Plenty of tantalising options to choose from, the owner of the cafe also run cooking workshops.

Hungry Beast, 87 Kingsland Road: A vegan Indian kitchen specialising in curries, kormas, naan and an array of vegan versions of indian food satiate the taste bud. 

Vida Bakery, 139 Brick Lane: A plant based bakery offering cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, ice cream is a must visit if you want to indulge in sinfully satiating sweet delicacies. 

Here’s a short video from our walk. Hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel 

Did you enjoy the graffiti art? Where else have you seen the gorgeous graffiti street art.  Share your experience in comments. 

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