Brick Lane & Shoreditch Street Art Tour by Alternative London

Artist: DALeast

Guided tours can be rather hit or miss at times. It's a bit stifling to be herded around in a big group but then on the other hand, if you get a great tour guide then you suddenly get an incredible opportunity to learn about things that you wouldn't ordinarily ever educate yourself on.

And that's what happened last weekend: I went on a Street Art Tour of Brick Lane and Shoreditch - an area I'm not terribly familiar with and I came back with an immense of interest and respect for street artists. What boggles my mind is how these artists share their work for free for everyone to view, knowing there is no longevity or permanence to their work - for it could be wiped out or drawn over the next day. Yet the fact that some of these stay and become famous icons and landmarks that have lasted on buildings and walls for years shows the strength of this art form and the support and appreciation from the community in the area.  

Artist: VHIS

The tour was run by Alternative London and was quite unique in the sense that you could book in it advance for free. At the end of the tour, you can pay how much ever you want. Our tour guide was a street artist called Ben Slow and since he gave an awesome enlightening two and half hour tour, it wasn’t very hard for us to reach into our pockets and pay him. We paid £20 for two people.

Artist: ROA

I highly recommend going for it if you’d like to learn more about street art or if simply you’d like to learn more about the East End. Also, it’s a fun thing to do if you’re showing a visitor around London.

Here is website of Alternative London if you’d like to know more about the different tours they do: www.alternativeldn.co.uk/

Artist: LMac

Artist Stix

Artist: DALeast