Leake Street, London

Leake Street is a road tunnel where graffiti is legal and actively encouraged, an unusual public setting for work that would otherwise break UK law. It runs from York Road beneath the platforms and tracks of Waterloo station, extending about 300 metres through Lambeth. The wall paintings began with Banksy’s Cans Festival, held from 3–5 May 2008; the event returned over the August Bank Holiday weekend that year.

Look along the tunnel walls: the changing layers make this feel less like a finished gallery than a public canvas. Before the 1920s, this street was called York Street. During the Waterloo Eurostar era, vehicles could pass through, but pedestrian access became the rule after ownership moved to Network Rail on 14 November 2008.