Street art tours in Shoreditch: which one to book
There are three ways to take a street art tour in Shoreditch: a paid, artist-led walk, a weekend tour with a specialist operator, or a free walk where you tip at the end. All of them take about two hours, all of them cover Brick Lane and the streets around Shoreditch High Street station, and none of them can promise what will be on the walls, because the art changes every few weeks. Here is what each one offers, from their own booking pages.
Alternative London: artist-led walks and spray workshops
Alternative London calls its street art walk “the original Alternative London Tour”. It starts from £14, with concessions for ages 6 to 15 and over-64s. The walking tour runs 1.5 to 2 hours on Tuesdays, Fridays and weekends, at 11am and 2pm, in groups of up to 20. The guides are artists and local creatives, and the route covers ROA, Shepard Fairey, Invader, C215, Phlegm, Vhils, Conor Harrington and Stik, “with a possible Banksy”. They are straight about the limits: the route changes regularly, and Banksy works on private property may be closed off.
The reason to book Alternative London over the others is the workshop. You can add a spray session after the walk: 2.5 hours daily from £30, or 4 hours at weekends from £40, starting at 11am. You learn to cut single or multi-layer stencils, then practise on the graffiti walls of a ventilated studio with water-based Molotow paint; masks, gloves and aprons are supplied, and you can paint a canvas or canvas bag to take home for a small extra charge. The 4-hour session is for ages 12 and over. There is also a Street Art Bike Tour, about two hours through Brick Lane, Shoreditch, Hoxton and Hackney, from £25, and a Sip & Spray workshop with a drink from £60.
Shoreditch Street Art Tours: the specialists
Shoreditch Street Art Tours has been running since 2008, and City AM went to it for comment when the Brick Lane Banksy was removed. Public tours run on Saturdays and Sundays all year, and its calendar shows a 10am start, including Sunday 1 November 2026. Private tours can run any day, from a choice of starting points in Shoreditch. It also runs street art photography workshops, including one at night, school and university tours, and private tours in Spanish led by a working street artist. Its site does not list prices on the front page, so check the booking page before you go.
The free walk from Shoreditch High Street
If you would rather pay what you think it was worth, GuruWalk lists a free street art walk run by London with a Local Tours. It meets outside Shoreditch High Street Overground station on Braithwaite Street, E1, where the guide holds a red umbrella, and lasts two hours; the October 2026 listing shows an 11am start. You tip at the end (GuruWalk suggests €15 to €50 a head). It has more than 1,400 reviews averaging 4.8. It needs at least five people to run, and groups of more than six have to book a private tour.
Which one to book
- First visit, want the story: Alternative London’s walking tour.
- Bringing teenagers, or want something to take home: Alternative London’s tour and workshop.
- Into photography, or after Banksy history: Shoreditch Street Art Tours.
- On a budget, or not sure: the free walk, and tip fairly.
Or go on your own
Shoreditch is easy to walk without a guide. Most of the long-running pieces are on public streets: ROA’s crane on Hanbury Street, painted in 2010, Stik on Grimsby Street, and the rotating walls on Holywell Lane and Great Eastern Street. London x London’s September 2026 route has 18 stops from Old Street to Liverpool Street, and our own Shoreditch street art walk covers the same ground in about two hours. What you lose without a guide is the context: who painted what, who painted over whom, and which wall is about to come down.
Practical notes
- Wear shoes for cobbles: Grimsby Street and Pedley Street are rough underfoot.
- Weekend tours meet the Sunday market crowds on Brick Lane; weekday tours see more wall.
- Bring a layer from November; two hours standing still on Hanbury Street gets cold.
