New report says London is the best city in Europe for street art

London is the best city in Europe for street art, according to a new report. More specifically, Shoreditch is the place to be if you want to breathe in paint fumes and learn the difference between graffiti and graffito (one’s plural, the other’s singular, naturalmente).

The report is the result of what is no doubt some very rigorous, serious, scientific research conducted by a website called Radical Storage (if you didn’t think there was anything radical about storage, just wait until you see what they can do with an Ikea Kallax), which looked at social media data for users tagging images as #streetart in specific locations across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest.

Shoreditch nabs top spot as ‘Europe’s hotspot for street art’ thanks to the ‘combination of social-media engagement for the district’s street art, as well as volume and quality of art pieces registered online.’ Separately, London as a whole is ‘the best city overall for street art’, due to being ‘the most engaged city on social media for street art’. 

Other popular street art destinations included the Trastevere neighbourhood in Rome, which is ‘the most popular neighbourhood for street art on social media’ (though it’s unclear how that’s different from being ‘Europe’s hotspot’ or ‘the best city overall’), Mitte in Berlin and Montmartre in Paris. 

Radical Storage (seriously, they have a way with a cardboard box you wouldn’t believe) has also figured out that the most popular art destinations in Europe have an average of 51 works of street art registered online with a rating of 4.5/5 on Google Maps.

London might be in the process of having the life strangled out of it by greedy developers, evil landlords and £8 pints, but at least we can look at the nice paintings.

If you like street art, check out ‘Beyond the Streets London’ at Saatchi Gallery. Feb 17-May 9 2023. Tickets available here. 

Can’t wait? Here are the top ten exhibitions in London you can see right now.

Can’t wait, won’t pay? Here are the best (and worst) free art exhibitions in London right now.