Brick Lane street art: Hanbury Street, Grimsby Street and more

Brick Lane street art is mostly not on Brick Lane. The lane itself has the paste-ups and the crowds; the big walls are on the streets that run off it. Start at the railway bridge at the Bethnal Green Road end, work down through Grimsby Street, Pedley Street and Allen Gardens, and finish on Hanbury Street under the crane. Allow an hour and a half. This weekend the Sunday market is on, so go early on Saturday 31 October or come back on a weekday, when the walls on Sclater Street are not hidden behind stalls.

A note on what follows. The pieces named here are the long-running ones and the walls that are always painted. Brick Lane art changes every few weeks, and the 2026 Street Artwork guide warns that anything documented may already have gone. Treat the rest as a lucky dip.

The railway bridge, E1 and E2

The stretch of Brick Lane between Buxton Street and Bethnal Green Road, where the railway crosses, has the highest concentration of art on the lane, especially paste-ups, according to Inspiring City’s Brick Lane guide. It is also the best example of how short-lived it all is. Banksy stencilled three monkeys on the bridge on 7 August 2024, one of his London animal series. In December, City AM reported, TfL had them pressure-washed off overnight, saying unauthorised art attracts more graffiti and trespass near a live railway.

Sclater Street and Bacon Street

Sclater Street runs from Brick Lane towards Shoreditch High Street station and still has some of the best walls in the area. The old weavers’ houses are covered in stickers, paste-ups and graffiti, and a giant monkey head by Mighty Mo faces Brick Lane. Bacon Street, the cut-through next to it, is more developed than it was, but look for the portraits of Charlie Burns, known locally as the king of Bacon Street, painted on a house front by different artists over the years.

Grimsby Street

At the top of Brick Lane, turn under the railway onto Grimsby Street, a short cobbled street running beside the line. It has one of the best paste-up walls in east London, and Stik’s piece of two figures shouting at each other, which London x London calls Screamers, has been there for years. Of everything on this list it is the most reliable.

Pedley Street and Allen Gardens

Pedley Street is more path than street. It runs east from Brick Lane, under the railway and into Allen Gardens. The wall nearest Brick Lane is one of the area’s best-known painting spots; Fanakapan and Jim Vision painted High 5 here in 2019. The further you walk, the more it becomes graffiti rather than street art, and the walls around Allen Gardens work as a hall of fame, with new pieces turning up almost every week.

Hanbury Street and the Truman Brewery

Hanbury Street crosses Brick Lane halfway down, and its junction is one of the most photographed mural sites in London. The reason is ROA’s crane, painted over eight hours in 2010. ROA meant it as a heron, but locals took it as a crane, a bird revered in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, and the name stuck. Around the corner is Martin Ron’s upside-down Coldstream Guard from 2013. The wall that used to carry a Jimmy C was replaced in 2024 by an unsigned mushroom piece. Inside the Truman Brewery, Elys Yard has had work by Vhils, Shepard Fairey and Banksy, but it is private land and access varies.

Seven Stars Yard and Heneage Street

Behind the old Seven Stars pub on Brick Lane, an alley full of paste-ups leads to a yard with art on an exposed interior wall; Dreph and Mr Cenz have both painted there. On Heneage Street, Fanakapan’s chrome balloon lettering is a long-runner. While you are there, the Gilbert & George Centre at 5a Heneage Street is open Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 5.45pm, with a free highlights tour on Saturdays at 4pm.

Fashion Street and Princelet Street

South of Hanbury Street, Fashion Street runs from Brick Lane to Commercial Street, with smaller pieces along its length and paste-ups and stencils at the Spitalfields end. Look for a Dreph mural and Jimmy C’s father and daughter on the restaurant that was Pho Village, now Hawker’s. A purple portrait that used to be here has gone. On Princelet Street, Stik’s A Couple Holding Hands in the Street is still listed in Inspiring City’s map, which Inspiring City reads as a comment on social cohesion.

Getting there

Nearest stations: Shoreditch High Street (Overground) for the north end, Aldgate East (District and Hammersmith & City) for the south.
Best time: weekday mornings.
Want a guide? See our street art tours round-up.