Leake Street
Leake Street (also known as the Banksy Tunnel) is a road tunnel in Lambeth, London where graffiti is legal and promoted despite the fact that it is against UK law on public property. The street is about 300 metres long, runs off York Road and under the platforms and tracks of Waterloo station.[1]
The walls are decorated with graffiti, initially created during the Cans Festival organised by Banksy on 3–5 May 2008.[2] The festival ran again on the August Bank Holiday weekend 2008.[3]
While the Eurostar terminal was at Waterloo, the road was open for through vehicular traffic. On 14 November 2008 ownership of the road passed from Eurostar to Network Rail[4] and through traffic was restricted to pedestrians.
Prior to the 1920s the street was known as York Street.[5]
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Graffiti from the 2008 Cans Festival included Banksy's Injured Buddha (left) and Sten Lex's Saint (right) -
Leake Street tunnel. 2023 -
Leake Street tunnel. 2019 -
Leake Street tunnel. 2018 -
Leake Street tunnel. 2016
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Rewriting the city - 1854 Photography". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
- ^ "The Cans Festival @ The Tunnel, Leake Street, London SE1 7NN". urbanenergy.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Cans Festival 2: street artists return to Leake Street". www.london-se1.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ "The future of Leake Street". Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ "A-Z New to Old Street names". www.maps.thehunthouse.com. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Leake Street, London at Wikimedia Commons
- Cans Festival 08 - flickr group for the event
- Tunnel becomes Banksy art exhibit, BBC News
- Leake Street Gets a Gritting, Londonist.com
- Leake Street Arches, Leake Street Arches website
- WeAreWaterloo | It's Your Waterloo. Be part of it. – Miracle on Leake Street, alternative Christmas event 2022
51°30′07″N 0°06′57″W / 51.5020°N 0.1157°W
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