‘Posh’ out-of-town graffiti artists with Selfridges tote bags infuriate Peckham residents

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

‘Posh’ out-of-town graffiti writers are causing havoc in a neighbourhood by using its walls as a canvas for their spray painted tags, people have claimed.

The streets around Peckham’s two railway stations are covered in graffiti, with barely a shop shutter or wall not decorated with street art or smeared with writing.

In the high street branch of Costa Coffee in Rye Lane, customers look out through window panes daubed with white spray paint spelling out a recurring illegible tag.

While chains like Costa usually manage to clean up the graffiti eventually, independent businesses in the area appear to have given up trying, as barely 24 hours go by before the tags return.

Peckham resident Jennifer Chelley said the graffiti writers had no fear of punishment.

She said: “I’ve confronted them before and they’re well spoken. They take the train to the station and they say that people come from all over because it’s the only place they can do it and they don’t get stopped.

“They say ‘we come here to add our imprint’. One of them had his cans of spray paint in a Selfridges tote bag. It’s not local people who are doing it.

“I live in Peckham and I don’t want Peckham to look like a ghetto, and I said a while ago that the town centre is like the Hunger Games now. We need to give them a year’s prison sentence or name and shame them.”

Abel Nwanokwai, owner of travel agents Unique Travel UK next to Peckham Rye railway station, said he’d witnessed brazen writers tagging near his business in the middle of the day.

But Joe Lo, 32, who lives in nearby Nunhead, said he thought the street art complimented the area, although he was less keen on the tags.

Mr Lo, an editor, said: “The street art is great. The big ‘Welcome to Peckham’ sign on the Prince of Peckham, that’s really cool. When it’s all done in an arty way, it’s cool. The tags are not as nice but they’ve never bothered me.”

Southwark council was contacted for comment on the issue but did not respond by time of publication.

Pictured top: Graffiti covering the window panes of Peckham’s Costa Coffee (Picture: Robert Firth)