Walthamstow Street Art Trail with Wood Street Walls

While Shoreditch in East London is still the most significant graffiti and street art location in London, areas as Camden and Dulwich are up and coming when it comes to fine street art as well. When I saw photos of this work above by Conor Harrington appear on Instagram, I obviously had to find out where exactly I could find it. I discovered it was part of the Walthamstow street art trail, a project by Wood Street Walls. I had never heard of this area faaaaaaaaar away in north-east London before. Let alone, knew it was one of the best places to see street art in London.

I felt adventurous on one sunny and hot June afternoon, so I slipped into my comfy (yet stylish of course) Birkenstocks, slopped on 30+ sunscreen and went on a street art trail adventure. Let me share my finds here with you.

Please note that this is an older street art blog post and that some artworks might be gone by now. On the other hand, lots of additional street artworks have appeared in Walthamstow since I wrote this blog post. For the most up-to-date artworks and their location, go to the Wood Street Walls website and click on the E17 street art map.

Walthamstow Street Art Trail with Wood Street Walls

This piece by Conor Harrington is just as epic and impressive in real life as it is in the photos. Just to see this piece in person was well worth the trip to Walthamstow.

Make sure you exit Walthamstow Central at the Station Approach exit rather than Selborne Road. From there it’s only a short walk to Edison Close.

Although I had a map on my phone with all 14 street artworks, I had some difficulties locating some of them. I blame this mostly on my awful sense of direction, but also partially on the map which is a bit unclear on the correct street names.

Fanakapan 3D balloons in The Mall carpark

Finding the artwork by Fanakapan was quite a challenge. After walking up and down the same street for about four times and getting puzzled looks from the road workers, I finally found the entrance to The Mall shopping centre on Selborne Road where I found Fanakapan’s outstanding artwork in his famous 3D balloon style.

Tip! Try to enter the carpark directly from Selborne Road instead of walking through the shopping centre down to the carpark.

Abovementioned tip will save you quite a walk as the artwork is right at the exit of the carpark. I can imagine it gets quite busy here in the weekend, so try to come down early morning or during the week to take good photos of the work.

St Mary Road and Jewel Road

The following mosaic by Mark McClure on St Mary Road was a pleasure to see as unlike the other artworks it wasn’t sprayed or painted, but made of wood.

The following floral mural on Jewel Road is by Carne Griffiths who primarily works with calligraphy inks, graphite and liquids, such as tea, brandy and vodka. I had never seen any of his artworks before, but found these portraits truly beautiful.

Hoe Street

I had almost missed this massive mural by Irony + Boe on Hoe Street, were it not that I stopped to take a photo of the handsome red pub Ye Olde Rose & Crown right next to it. I’m a huge fan of these guys so was relieved to find this ‘hidden’ piece after all.

Here’s a detail of the stunning foxes.

Many photographs later, I continued my way north on Hoe Street till I reached another beautiful pub: the Bell Pub.

Right opposite the pub you can see this breathtaking mural by Dale Grimshaw.

Also opposite the pub is this mural by Mr Cenz in one of his typical styles: a futuristic portrait of a woman.

On one of the walls of the pub you see this cute piece by Terry Baden, which reminded me of that funny grinning dog in the Nintendo game Duck Hunt.

Chingford Road

Wynwood Art Cafe on 24 Chingford Road is just a few doors down from Bell Pub. The ladies behind the counter didn’t mind I didn’t order any of their delicious cakes or coffees, but encouraged me to go to their terrace to take a photo of this work by artist collective Static.

Victoria Road

Static are the only artists (so far) to have multiple artworks in the area. After a 10-min walk from the cafe, you can find this colourful and playful piece on Victoria Road.

On my way to Victoria Road I came across this stunning view of the Walthamstow Town Hall on Forest Road. I admit it doesn’t look that impressive in the photo as it did in real life.

I followed the example of other people around and sat down in the shade for a while, giving my poor blistered feet a rest.

Below is a photo of the Walthamstow Assembly Hall, an art deco building that’s often used for weddings, concerts, dinner receptions etc.

I was rather struck by the slogan on the façade: ‘Fellowship is Life and the Lack of Fellowship is Death’. Right after reading this, I quickly lifted my heels and continued my street art walk 😉

From the second Static piece, it’s just a few minutes’ walk to this fluorescent work by art collective Toasters. The colours of this mural popped right off the wall and it was one the best works by them I’ve seen.

The collective have been around for 15 years now and spread their toasters all over the world.

Brandon Road carpark

On the next street I found this lovely mural by ATM in the Brandon Road carpark. Typically there were hardly any cars there, but just this red one decided to park right in front of this piece!

ATM paints murals of birds that are (nearly) extinct and his aim is to create awareness of our environment.

I’ve once had the pleasure to meet him and we had a surreal conversation about art, animals, my dad’s bird collection, literature, theatre and much more I cannot recall anymore. I do remember laughing a lot during a highly intelligent discourse (at least it felt like it at the moment).

Ravenswood Industrial Estate

This following mural was a real challenge to find. This time not (only) because of my flawed sense of direction, but also the illogical roads in England.

After an interesting detour, I finally managed to find my way to Ravenswood Industrial Estate, quite a dodgy area which I was happy to visit during the day. Here I found the following mural by Dave Bonzai, which blended in perfectly with the surroundings.

The final artwork on the map was this elaborate work by Phlegm, which is tucked away in a residential area.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the tour as I love all the work by this Sheffield-based artist. After venturing all the way to E17, I’m considering a ‘pilgrimage’ to Sheffield in pursuit of more work by Phlegm.

If you want to see all the artworks in person, hop on down the Victoria Line or Overground to Walthamstow Central. Make sure to download the map from the Wood Street Walls website and you’ll be good to go. Happy exploring!

Want to explore more great street art locations in London?
Then read this article: 10 Best Places to See Street Art in London.