Leake Street (also known as the Banksy Tunnel) is a road tunnel in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

, 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 Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergroun ...

. The walls are decorated with

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

, initially created during the

Cans Festival Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigra ...

organised by

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

on 3–5 May 2008. The festival ran again on the August Bank Holiday weekend 2008. 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 Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

and through traffic was restricted to pedestrians. Prior to the 1920s the street was known as York Street. Sten lex banksy, cans festival, londra 2008.jpg, Graffiti from the 2008 Cans Festival included Banksy's ''Injured Buddha'' (left) and Sten Lex's ''Saint'' (right) File:View of Interior Leake Street Arches London Waterloo 1.png, Leake Street tunnel. 2023 File:Leake street tunnel - 49154333957.jpg, Leake Street tunnel. 2019 File:Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel Looking North.jpg, Leake Street tunnel. 2018 File:Leake Street IMG 8530.jpg, Leake Street tunnel. 2016

See also

References

External links