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LONDON | Back when Waterloo station was the UK terminus of the Eurostar, Leake Street, a subterranean tunnel of almost 200 metres in length, was used as a taxi waiting area. The space was abandoned in 2007, when Eurostar services moved to St Pancras. Banksy stumbled across the space in 2008 and initiated a ‘cans festival’ to “transform a dark forgotten filth pit” into “an oasis of beautiful art”. From there Leake Street developed into an unofficial street art gallery, before becoming the largest legal street art space in London.
What would otherwise be a dark, uninteresting and creepy tunnel is transformed by street artists into a vibrant, colourful, energetic, though provoking space. Each of the Leake Street art gallery artists respect the work of other artists. Individual pieces of artwork generally stay up for a few weeks, before the space is painted over by another artist. Anyone is free to exhibit on the tunnel’s walls, as long as they follow the rules of “No Sexism. No Racism. No Adverts.” and follow the unwritten code of respect for their fellow artists.
Here’s where you’ll also find the entrance to ‘The Vaults‘, a theatre, exhibition space and gallery that opened in 2015 that holds various contemporary art exhibitions for the “bold, the fresh and the fearless”. The space features 30,000 square feet of accessible, flexible and delectable Victorian brickwork fused with abandoned 1970s office space.