A History of Graffiti in the UK
From prisoners' carvings and political slogans to the hip hop crews of the 1980s and the street art boom: how graffiti became part of British culture.
By The Outsider Artist editors, Editorial team, Website Studio
Updated
· Last reviewed · 4 min read
In short
- People have written on British walls for centuries, from prisoners' carvings in the Tower of London to political slogans painted in the 1930s.
- Style-based graffiti, with tags and colourful "pieces", arrived in the UK in the early 1980s with hip hop and electro music from New York.
- The films Wild Style and Style Wars (both 1983) inspired the first British writers in London, Bristol and the West Midlands.
- Early pioneers included 3D (Robert Del Naja) in Bristol, the Chrome Angelz in London and Goldie in the West Midlands.
- From the 2000s, Banksy and the stencil and street art movement brought British graffiti into galleries, auction houses and Tate Modern.
How old is graffiti in Britain?
Very old. People have carved and scratched names, dates and messages into British walls for as long as there have been walls. Prisoners in the Tower of London carved inscriptions in the Beauchamp Tower in the 16th century, and a date of 1411 is scratched into a door at Headstone Manor in Harrow. Victorian visitors scratched names into glass and wood, and in 1864 a man pleaded guilty to writing obscene words on London's new Metropolitan Railway, about 14 months after it opened.
What was political graffiti in the 20th century?
For much of the 20th century, graffiti in Britain meant words. Political slogans were painted on walls in the 1930s, and in 1958 activists daubed messages on buildings in Westminster and Lambeth. In the mid-1960s the phrase "Clapton is God" appeared on a wall in Islington and spread across London. In 1975, after the armed robbery conviction of George Davis, "George Davis is innocent" was painted across east London in a long campaign. The emphasis was on the message, not on style.
Northern Ireland developed its own tradition of painted political murals, which began in loyalist areas in the early 20th century. See Belfast's murals.
How did hip hop graffiti reach the UK?
In New York, young "writers" had been painting their names on subway trains since around 1970, developing tags, bubble letters and complex "wildstyle" lettering. That culture reached Britain in the early 1980s, through electro and hip hop records, the 1982 New York City Rap Tour that visited London, the book Subway Art (1984), and above all the films Wild Style and Style Wars, both released in 1983. Young people who had never been to New York copied what they saw.
Who were the first British graffiti writers?
- Bristol: Robert Del Naja, writing as 3D, began painting in summer 1983 and is often called one of the UK's first graffiti writers. Others soon followed, including Inkie and Nick Walker. See Bristol graffiti.
- London: the Chrome Angelz crew, including Mode 2, Bando, Zaki, Pride and Scribla, painted around Covent Garden from the mid-1980s, and the walls at Westbourne Park became a hall of fame. See London's graffiti story.
- West Midlands: Goldie, born in Walsall in 1965, painted murals around Wolverhampton, including on the stairwells of the Heath Town estate, before becoming a drum and bass star.
Many of these writers were also part of the music scenes growing at the same time. In Bristol, 3D went on to co-found Massive Attack.
What happened in the late 1980s and 1990s?
As in New York, the trains became a target. Writers painted London Underground and British Rail trains, and transport companies and the British Transport Police fought back with fences, cleaning and arrests. Councils began "buffing", or removing, graffiti more quickly. Some writers moved to legal walls and commissions; others carried on illegally. Stencils became more common, partly because they were fast. In Bristol, the young Banksy shifted from freehand graffiti to stencils during the 1990s.
How did graffiti become street art?
In the 2000s, a new wave of artists working with stencils, posters, stickers and murals, often with a political or humorous message, attracted huge public attention. Banksy became the best-known artist in Britain. Galleries and auction houses took notice, and in 2008 three landmark events came together: Banksy's Cans Festival in a tunnel under Waterloo station, Tate Modern's Street Art exhibition, which used the museum's river facade for murals by six international artists, and the growth of festivals such as Upfest in Bristol. See graffiti vs street art.
What is the UK scene like today?
Today British graffiti and street art exist side by side. Illegal writing continues on walls and trains, and most graffiti painted without permission is still a crime. Alongside it, cities commission murals, festivals bring artists from around the world, tours lead visitors through Shoreditch and Stokes Croft, and street artists exhibit in galleries. See the best UK cities for street art and graffiti and UK law.
Where to go next
Learn the vocabulary in graffiti vs street art, or follow the timeline on our timeline page.
Questions and answers
Where did British graffiti start?
Hip hop graffiti arrived in the early 1980s, inspired by New York records and films. Early centres were Bristol, where 3D began painting in 1983, London, with crews such as the Chrome Angelz, and the West Midlands. History of UK graffiti.
Sources and further reading
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