It’s German Unity Day today. Happy 34th birthday to the reunified Germany! Many happy returns!
As last year, I marked the occasion by attending the German Embassy’s Unity Day reception in London. The official residence of the Ambassador in Belgravia is under construction, and so an external venue had to be found for the event.
In theory, this isn’t a problem. The German Embassy in London has a ready-made backup option. Like many of its counterparts elsewhere in the world, it is in the enviable position of having two buildings. The old East German Embassy came under its auspices after reunification. Now called German House, it’s located at 34 Belgrave Square, just a few doors down from the main embassy building. Many events have been held there since the main residence has been undergoing renovation. But it is significantly smaller and wouldn’t have been suitable to welcome the amount of people invited to the Germany Unity Day reception.
So an interesting alternative was found this year: Leake Street.
If you’ve never been to this striking place (I hadn’t before this week), you should go and see it one day. It’s really quite striking. It’s a road tunnel underneath Waterloo Station in which graffiti is legal. The walls and arches are covered in colourful street art and you can see new pieces of art being created as you walk through the tunnel.
The place is also called ‘Banksy Tunnel’ because this tradition was started in 2008 when the eponymous street artist hosted an exhibition there called The Cans Festival. Other artists came along and were allowed to create their own pieces on the arches so long as they didn’t cover up other people’s work.
I’m not entirely sure what the rules are today, but when I arrived (naturally around 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the event) and had a look around the 300-metre-long tunnel, a man was just rattling a spray can. The air smelled of chemicals and canabis, and I seriously began to wonder if I’d come to the right place.
I soon spotted other suited and booted people who looked bemused, disorientated and generally out of place. I followed them until we found the entrance to 26 Leake Street, which was the name of the venue we had been given. ‘Identity?!’ a security man at the door demanded. Ah, that was more like it. We were in the right place after all.
The inside was just as urban and arty as the outside. One of the smaller side tunnels had been turned into an events venue. The German Ambassador, His Excellency Miguel Berger, greeted all guests cheerfully at the entrance. When it was my turn, he pointed to the surroundings and joked, ‘we’ve chosen this especially for the Berlin vibe.’
It was very London, though. The sort of place that looks edgy and raw but at the same time lets you know that it costs a small fortune to rent for an evening. Trains pulling in and out of Waterloo Station rumbled above, the exposed brickwork of the tunnel arches were lit up with green neon lighting. Wine glasses sparkled in the half-light.
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