Battle of Waterloo 2015!
WATERLOO STATION/EUROSTAR TERMINAL
Never a dull moment in London! Strange things happen when Icewolves head out for a planned photo shoot involving the disused Eurostar terminal at London Waterloo railway station. Yes…well…strange location too perhaps but I like that sort of thing and besides which it would have made a great setting for a creepy, apocalyptic blog post!
Not too surprisingly it didn’t go quite to plan…it was locked off, boarded off, patrolled by railway security and the unavoidable presence of uniformed police officers and a whole bunch of CCTV cameras, making it just about impossible to sneak a way in without getting thoroughly and utterly arrested on the spot. And believe you me I gave it my very best shot! I really, really did want to have a look! So Plan A didn’t work…didn’t even get a photo or two of the odd glimpses I did get!
Attribution: Stacey Harris Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. / © Copyright Martyn Davies and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. Site link: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/613020
However not to be deterred…onto Plan B! Plan B consisted loosely of “let’s try sneaking in unnoticed through the ‘back door!’ “ Essentially this meant a tour round the outside of the station and a hike up a busy London street to find a side-route into the back streets which led to the back side of the station and Eurostar Terminal…needless to say that didn’t get me anywhere either…
NOTE TO TRANSPORT FOR LONDON
And if anyone from Trabsport for London/British Rail/Eurostar chances on this post by some remote and inexplicable chance…”It’s not fair!!! I only wanted to have a little look, take a few photos for my blog post and explore a unique and interestingly eerie environment to kick start my starved imagination into producing a zombie apocalypse type masterpiece to post on my blog!! Not a lot to ask was it? But you wouldn’t let me in! I think next time you should give me a guided tour! “
DISUSED TUNNELS – LEAKE STREET – BATTLE OF WATERLOO
Mission very much not accomplished there was only one thing for a darkly disappointed Icewolf to do…go explore the disused tunnels! What I didn’t expect to find was “The Battle of Waterloo” well underway in “The Tunnel” – located in the disused Leake Road, road tunnel far, far below in the depths under Waterloo station this “designated legal graffiti area” has not been used as a road tunnel since the closure of the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station in 2007.
BANSKY – CANS FESTIVAL
One year later at The Cans Festival organised by famous street artist Banksy a murals and art exhibition was held in Leake Street tunnel leading to “The Tunnel” becoming a well-known “graffiti hotspot.” Well…not that well known! Wolfie knew nothing about it till now! But hey! What’s a little ignorance amongst friends? 😉
As the street artists at “The Battle of Waterloo 2015” show very clearly the Leake Street Tunnel has been very successful at maintaining its prestigious position as a graffiti hotspot.
BATTLE OF WATERLOO/CHROME & BLACK
The Battle of Waterloo 2015 – biggest graffiti event of the summer, presented by “Chrome & Black.”
“Chrome & Black – London’s leading spray paint specialists – deep rooted history within the London Aerosol/Graffiti art world which is reflected in the art and clothing we stock, much of which will be exclusively solely to us. We also work with a large number of skilled artists some of who have had little or no exposure on the commercial scene.
“Up to 40 artists compete in the tunnel to win cash prize – paint, food, music and drinks – best paint jam in UK.” (www.chromeandblack.com)
Wolfie was delighted to discover in the course of the Icewolfie travels that there was even an underground Jamaican food stall available to supply the hungry masses…In the absence of a properly functioning photo album inserter – upside down photos are not the most inspiring sight! – these four images are the best that can be provided of this happy discovery…. the oddly flattened rectangular shape of them is not Icewolf, it is the dodgy blog editor!!!!
Icewolves of Europa 