By Clementine Wallop
During my maternity leave, I did a lot of walking. For a long time, my baby only slept on the go, so I wore out the streets of West London during naps. The upside of this is that I had a chance to explore and I started to appreciate the wealth of street art around my way.
This is a guided tour of W10’s brightest walls. Allowing time for slow walking, snacks, and picking up lost socks, it’s a morning’s mat-pay-friendly activity. Almost all the walk is fine with a buggy; I have made a note where a sling would be useful.
START: Latimer Road tube station
Take a right out of the station and walk up Bramley Road. Cross the street and walk down Crowthorne Road towards the main entrance of the Westway Sports & Fitness Centre. At the entrance, follow the path around to the right, under the Westway and passing the climbing wall on your left.
STOP ONE:
Along Stable Way, you’ll find an ever-changing array of work. In a busy week I have seen these walls change several times. Since the Grenfell Tower fire close by, they have been home to some beautiful memorial pieces.
Retrace your steps. Just before you reach the entrance to the sports centre building, take a hard left and follow the path; you’ll be able to see your next stop very soon if you look for the giant red robot by Dotmasters sprayed on the side of the building ahead of you.
STOP TWO:
Visible from the Westway and the Heathrow Express, these walls by the Crow’s Nest Gallery feature work by Zina—huge blue faces staring down the street—and Teddy Baden, whose dog floating from a bunch of balloons is my favourite here. Some of these pieces are enormous, some tiny, so take your time looking.
Follow Crowthorne Road out of the sports centre complex. Cross Bramley Road and walk under the Westway.
STOP THREE:
Part of the remarkable community response to the Grenfell fire, there’s now what looks like a huge outdoor sitting room under the Westway that features sofas, books, soft play and painted memorials and community noticeboards. Messages of love, hope and strength are painted all around. The cafe handles no cash or cards; if you’d like to bring a cake or biscuits to drop off, they’d be very welcome.
Follow the Westway up Maxilla Walk. Cross St Mark’s Road and walk up Malton Road (unless you need your MG repaired or some bathroom tiles, this isn’t a high point of the tour, sorry). Cross Ladbroke Grove to Thorpe Close.
STOP FOUR:
Scrappier and smaller than some stops, this corner merits attention for the ‘Grove Is in the Heart’ line that’s been sprayed on and off here for years in one form and colour or another. We love our W10.
Continue up Thorpe Close, across Portobello and onto Acklam Road. Note this section of the walk will be busy with market stalls on Fridays and Saturdays.
STOP FIVE:
To your left on the wall of Falafel King, you’ll see our very own neighbourhood Banksy, The Painter. It’s looking slightly scruffy at the time of writing, though reports say there are plans to move it onto the first storey and light it at night.
Continue down Acklam Road, turn left on Blagrove Road and then turn right onto Golborne Road. Walk to the end of the road, picking up a coffee and London’s best pastel de nata from Lisboa Patisserie as you go.
Walk into Meanwhile Gardens and turn right, keeping the Moroccan Garden to your left. Continue beside local landmark Trellick Tower and take the right-hand fork in the path immediately after the tower, where you see a brightly spray-painted slide.
STOP SIX:
(Not buggy friendly; sling the baby or bring a stroller you can carry down stairs.) Go down the stairs and find yourself surrounded by glorious colour, shapes and style, with work extending to the trees, plants and staircases. Trellick’s legal graffiti walls are on a huge scale and it’s a brilliant, incredibly atmospheric place to explore and see the best of the city’s work. Take a seat on one of the neon-sprayed benches under a silver painted tree and enjoy taking it in.
For more London street art outing ideas, follow Instagram account @ldn_streetart.
