Graffiti Removal. The urge to write on a wall has been around for pretty much as long as there have been walls around for us to scrawl on. So Clean travel back in time to investigate how long humans have been writing on walls and for what purpose.

Ancient Graffiti / Wall Art

Graffiti in ancient times differs from inscriptions. An inscription is generally commemorative. Thought and time has gone into the preparation, perhaps for a sacred engraving on a monument. By contrast graffiti is a more spontaneous act scratched or hand written onto a wall or stone. For example the men who built the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza left behind scribbles that may explain how they achieved it.


Roman graffiti still survives in great quantities, scribbled on the walls of houses in Rome. One ancient Roman scratched what is often interpreted as directions to a nearby brothel on to the paving stones at Ephesus.
Graffiti has been found scrawled above the bar in Pompeian taverns while declarations of love, political slogans, rude gossip and scandalous accusations all over Pompeii.

The first modern graffiti writer is widely considered to be Darryl McCray, known by his tagging name Cornbread. Cornbread, a high school student from Philadelphia, started tagging city walls to get the attention of a girl back in the late 1960’s.

Cornbread Graffiti

But it was only in the 1980s that galleries began to showcase graffiti as artwork.

Today, auctioneers and collectors shell out thousands of pounds for some graffiti-style pieces. Street artist Banksy is one of the most well known.

What is Graffiti?

Illegal text, sketching, painting, and drawing in a public place on walls and other people’s property.

As popular as Graffiti is amongst some youths and budding street artists, only occasional pieces may be deemed as street art. Most instances of graffiti / street tags offer no visual pleasure and are pure vandalism.

London Graffiti Removal Services

Most governments see graffiti as detrimental and have outlawed the practice. However, due to the majority of graffiti occurring in public spaces, local government is responsible for the removal and requires the services of a graffiti removal company.


Overall, Graffiti is considered to be vandalism and is a really expensive problem. The graffiti removal cost to the UK is over £1 billion a year. So Clean and similar cleaning companies remove graffiti from walls, street furniture, telephone boxes, bus shelters, monuments and even gravestones.

Top 3 Perceptions of Graffiti / Art

  1. Graffiti on other people’s property, without their consent is not art.
  2. Graffiti blights a neighbourhood. It gives the impression of being run down and lawless.
  3. It fosters fear and increases the perception of illegal activities associated with petty crime.

Graffiti Prevention Measures

Councils and Communities may consider:

  • Educational programs to help raise people’s awareness of the impacts of illegal graffiti and the legal consequences of engaging in graffiti vandalism
  • Support for community groups interested in addressing graffiti, including adopt-a-space and care-for-an-area projects
  • Planting trees or other vegetation to make graffiti prone walls more difficult to access and less attractive to offenders
  • Applying anti-graffiti coatings to make removal easier and the wall less appealing to offenders
  • Creating legal community art programs or initiatives, including installing community murals to deter offenders and improve streetscapes

Graffiti Removal Solution

So Clean are Graffiti removal specialists and use various graffiti removal techniques to serve businesses throughout London and Kent with professional. Our environmentally friendly graffiti removal service deploys fully trained staff, with specialist skid mounted warm water pressure washer system, which can remove graffiti from any type of porous or nonporous surface. We use non-hazardous graffiti removal products. All materials used are biodegradable water soluble solutions.

Contact us directly for graffiti removal costs or fill in our quote enquiry form.

Graffiti Removal Jobs

If you have come across this page and are looking for employment in the London & South East area, contact So Clean or visit our jobs page here. We provide full graffiti removal training so you can become a professional graffiti removal specialist.

Click here for our dedicated Graffiti Removal Services page covering London, Kent and the South East