Berwick Street — The Changing Wall Gallery
Berwick Street in London's Soho district is a historic market street and outdoor gallery famous for its constantly changing street art murals. Constructed between 1687 and 1703, the street has hosted a market since 1778 where glam rock star Marc Bolan worked as a teenager. On July 23, 1995, photographer Michael Spencer Jones shot the cover image for the Oasis album What's the Story, Morning Glory? on Berwick Street.
London · from the walk “Canvas & Cobblestones” · audio ~4 min · Generated
Berwick Street, London W1F 0PP
- Berwick Street in London was built between 1687 and 1703 and named after the First Duke of Berwick.
- A market has operated on London's Berwick Street since 1778, where musician Marc Bolan worked as a teenager.
- In the 1980s, London's Berwick Street earned the nickname The Golden Mile of Vinyl for its record shops.
- Photographer Michael Spencer Jones shot the Oasis album cover on Berwick Street on July 23, 1995.
Which famous 1995 Oasis album cover was photographed on Berwick Street in London?
Look around you. Berwick Street. This unassuming road runs through the heart of Soho, and yet it's one of the most Extraordinary open-air galleries in all of London... one where the art is never the same twice.......... Berwick Street is famous for its changing murals and political art. Street art here is always changing — a mural today might be gone tomorrow, making each piece special. The walls of this street have served as a canvas for Soho's restless creative spirit for decades... bold abstracts one week, community tributes the next, biting political statements the week after that. But how did a humble market street become an outdoor gallery?......... Well, this street has creativity in its Dna. Berwick Street was built between sixteen eighty-seven and seventeen oh three, and is believed to be named after James Fitzjames, First Duke of Berwick. Home to one of London's oldest markets, dating back to seventeen seventy-eight, it's always been a place where people gathered, shouted, haggled, and made themselves Heard.......... And the people who walked these stones... extraordinary. Marc Bolan — the glam rock pioneer — grew up as Mark Feld, the son of Phyllis, who ran a fruit stall right here on Berwick Street Market. As a teenager, young Mark was often found helping his mother at the market. He also worked on the counter at the Two I's coffee bar on Old Compton Street, and used to sit with his friend David Jones — later known as David Bowie — in the Gioconda coffee bar on Denmark Street, the two of them sharing their dreams of success in music. Think about that... the Father of glam rock, dreaming of stardom while selling fruit and veg just metres from where you're standing.......... Then came the nineteen eighties, and Berwick Street became a destination for vinyl record collectors when it was known as "The Golden Mile of Vinyl." And This is what brought us one of Britpop's most iconic images. The cover of Oasis's nineteen ninety-five album "What's the Story, Morning Glory?" was photographed right here on Berwick Street. Art director Brian Cannon and photographer Michael Spencer Jones selected the street for its visual appeal — they were specifically looking for a street flanked by buildings that created a strong perspective and vanishing point. It was shot in the early hours of a Sunday morning on the twenty-third of July, nineteen ninety-five. And here's the twist... the two blurry figures on the cover are Not Liam and Noel Gallagher — they're the sleeve designer Brian Cannon himself and London DJ Sean Rowley. The Gallagher brothers simply... never showed up.......... So take a moment. Look at whatever mural graces these walls today. It might not be here next week. That's the whole Point. Berwick Street doesn't preserve its art — it lets it Breathe, lets it change, lets it argue with the last thing that was here. From market stalls to glam rock, from vinyl records to street art... this street has always been Soho's way of speaking its mind.