London Staycation Day 2 -East London Street Art

Today I took it upon myself to be a tourist in my own city. Relishing in the fact that I wasn’t chained to my desk and emails, I dragged my brother out of the house and we headed off to explore some of the street art I got a little taste of yesterday.

East London is full of fascinating street art – an “open air gallery” of graffiti and splashes of color, of political, social and economic commentary – a stark contrast to the financial square mile on which it borders. Hackney and Shoreditch are home to a community of artists, designers and musicians who are housed in the abundance of warehouses and buildings left empty after the industrial decline of the mid-twentieth century which were once home to London’s furniture industry, making it an area that overflows with creative vibes and a great place to go for urban artistic inspiration. Formerly a mostly working-class area, by the mid 1990’s people began to get wind of the thriving artistic community. Fashion, design, music and art flourished. In recent years Shoreditch and Hoxton have become increasingly gentrified and are now well known areas for trendy bars, clubs, galleries and restaurants. Old Street is known as “Silicone Roundabout” due to the amount of start-ups which have grown around it.

We started our walk at Brick Lane, early in the morning, while the streets were quiet and almost still recovering from the buzzing markets and parties of the weekend. There is something quite serene about visiting these areas during the early hours as the city wakes up and the aromas of roasted coffee beans fill the air. We ambled through the back streets and alleys admiring the posters, paintings and brightly adorned walls.

We made our way up to Hoxton Square for elevenses at The Breakfast Club and then continued on past Old Street and up to Angel where we strolled around the antique market. The Antique Market is open from Wednesday to Saturday but most of the shops and cafes were open and the area was bustling.

One of the greatest things about exploring London by foot is the amount of amazing architecture, culture and art there is to see (for free!) which is forever changing and evolving, breaking rules and urging us to think about the world around us and the history upon which it was built.