London’s Most Iconic Murals – That Aren’t by Banksy

Mention street art in London and one name tends to dominate the conversation. But while Banksy may be the best-known street artist, the capital is covered in extraordinary murals created by artists whose work is every bit as distinctive, thought-provoking and in many cases, much more colourful.
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From enormous railway signs and polka-dot chimneys to political battles, Shakespeare and the entire history of Soho squeezed onto one wall, these murals have become landmarks in their own right. Here are a few to look out for as you explore London. 

Lionel Stanhope’s Railway Murals
If you travel by train through south London, there’s a good chance you’ll spot one of Lionel Stanhope’s murals. Painted in bold, vintage-style lettering on railway bridges and walls, they proudly announce the name of the neighbourhood in which you’ve arrived, often accompanied by a simple image or local motif.
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Stanhope began his career as a graffiti artist and was arrested for his efforts before training as a traditional sign writer. He later moved into creating scenery for theatre, film and television, where he was able to work on a much larger scale. Network Rail subsequently commissioned him to brighten up railway structures around the capital, with the aim of encouraging local pride and discouraging vandalism. Most of his murals can be found in south London, although his work has spread further afield, and he was also responsible for the much-photographed NHS Superman mural near Waterloo Station.

Ben Eine’s Alphabet City
Ben Eine is another artist who began by illegally painting trains and walls, having discovered graffiti at the age of 14. After almost two decades of tagging London’s railway lines and streets – and with the possibility of a prison sentence becoming increasingly real, he began looking for a way to continue painting without following the usual graffiti route.

His solution was to develop his now instantly recognisable typography, painting enormous single letters and colourful words across shop shutters and walls. His work is particularly associated with Shoreditch and Spitalfields, where streets covered with his brightly coloured letters became known as Alphabet City. Eine later achieved international fame in 2010 when David Cameron presented his painting Twenty First Century City to Barack Obama during an official visit to Washington. Not bad for someone who started out sneaking around railway sidings with a can of spray paint.​

Deptford’s Polka-Dot Neckties
​At 110 Deptford High Street, two ordinary chimney stacks have been transformed into a rather splendid couple wearing enormous polka-dot neckties. Known as His ’n’ Hers or Deptford Pearls, the mural was painted free of charge in 2001 by Artmongers, a south-east London public art collective founded by artist Patricio Forrester.
 
The aim of Artmongers is to create public art that improves neglected spaces while giving local people a greater sense of pride and ownership. Quite why two smartly dressed chimneys should have become such well-loved local characters is difficult to explain, but perhaps that is part of their charm. They don’t attempt to tell Deptford’s history or make a serious statement about the neighbourhood. They simply add a touch of warmth, humour and eccentricity to an otherwise unremarkable gable end.

Conor Harrington in East Dulwich
Irish-born artist Conor Harrington combines the drama and technical skill of traditional oil painting with the raw, weathered setting of the city street. His large-scale figures often look as though they have stepped out of an old master painting.
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One of Harrington’s London murals can be found on Spurling Road in East Dulwich, south east London, opposite the East Dulwich Tavern. It’s titled Fight Club and depicts two aggressive 18th-century men locked in a dramatic boxing match. His work has appeared around the world, including in the USA, Norway, Spain and on the separation wall in Bethlehem.

The Cable Street Mural
Some murals are decorative; others tell a story. Covering the side of the former St George’s Town Hall in Shadwell, the Cable Street Mural commemorates the Battle of Cable Street, which took place on 4 October 1936 as fascism was spreading across Europe.
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That day, local Jewish residents joined forces with Irish dockworkers, trade unionists, socialists, communists and other anti-fascist protesters to prevent Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists from marching through the East End.

The mural captures the chaos and violence of the confrontation in vivid detail, with banners, barricades, police horses and protesters tumbling across the wall. Designed by Dave Binnington and completed with Paul Butler, Ray Walker and Desmond Rochfort between 1979 and 1983, it has been vandalised and restored several times, but remains one of London’s most powerful pieces of public art.

The Spirit of Soho
Tucked away at the junction of Carnaby Street and Broadwick Street in London's Soho is a mural so crammed with characters, buildings and historical references that it is almost impossible to take everything in at once. Created by the local community in 1991, The Spirit of Soho celebrates the people and places that have helped make Soho one of London’s most distinctive neighbourhoods.
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At the top is St Anne, patron saint of Soho, whose enormous skirt forms a map of the streets and lanes below. Look closely and you’ll find theatres, restaurants, musicians, writers and famous former residents, including William Blake, Dylan Thomas and Karl Marx. There is even a mechanical clock: on the hour, opera singer Teresa Cornelys winks at Casanova, who responds by blowing her a kiss, while Marx takes a sip from a can of Coca-Cola. Because the surrounding streets are so narrow, you have to stand close to the mural and explore it piece by piece, which is probably the best way to appreciate Soho itself.

Shakespeare on Clink Street
Southwark’s long association with William Shakespeare makes it a fitting home for one of London’s most striking literary murals. Created by Australian artist James Cochran, better known as Jimmy C, it depicts Shakespeare holding the skull of Yorick against a swirling, almost psychedelic backdrop.

Jimmy C is particularly well known for his pointillist style, building portraits from countless dots and splashes of colour. Viewed up close, Shakespeare appears to dissolve into a mass of individual marks, but step back and his familiar face emerges with remarkable clarity. You’ll find the mural on Clink Street, not far from the reconstructed Globe Theatre and the remains of the Rose Theatre, in an area Shakespeare would have known extremely well.

Jimmy C has also painted another mural around the corner in a railway arch at Borough Market (pictured at the top of this blog post). It features eight floating ‘cosmic’ hearts with each commemorating one of the people who lost their life in the 2017 London Bridge/Borough Market terror attacks.

London’s murals are easy to overlook when you’re rushing for a train, navigating a crowded high street or trying to work out which direction Google Maps wants you to walk in. But take the time to look up and you’ll find an enormous number of works of art telling stories about the neighbourhoods around them. And not a Banksy rat in sight.

Image Credits
Ben Eine letters: Leo Reynolds
'His and Hers' by Artmongers: London Mural Preservation Society
'Street Fight' by Conor Harrington: Ungry Young Man
Cable Street Mural: Clogsilk
'Spirit of Soho': allyhook