Find Banksy in Reading

Banksy’s artwork in Reading, Create Escape, appeared in 2021. It is easy to find on the walls of the former Reading Prison building. From Reading Station, it is just a five-minute walk – see our map.

The most scenic route is through Forbury Gardens and the Abbey Ruins and along Oscar Wilde walk before heading along the main road that runs alongside the former prison. As you walk through the Abbey Ruins, if you look towards the prison, you will see the cell on the top floor that Wilde occupied while he was imprisoned there from 1895-97.

Banksy’s Create Escape was inspired by Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment in Reading Gaol in the late 19^th century. While in prison in Reading he wrote De Profundis and afterwards the Ballad of Reading Gaol.