The Shed at Dulwich

‘The Shed at Dulwich’ was London’s top-rated restaurant. Just one problem: It didn’t exist.

It was a unique restaurant in London and certainly the hardest to get into. And it beat out thousands of upscale restaurants in the city to earn the top ranking on the popular review site TripAdvisor for a time, drawing a flood of interest. The restaurant was just a listing created this year by a freelance writer, Oobah Butler, who used his home—a shed in the Dulwich area in South London — as the inspiration for a high-concept new restaurant that he posted on TripAdvisor: “The Shed at Dulwich.”

The story has by now traveled around the globe and back, after Butler wrote a piece that exposed the ruse on VICE. It has been hailed as an incredible feat. But in an era increasingly influenced by disinformation online, it also has served as another reminder of the ease with which pranksters and other dishonest actors are able to manipulate online platforms to sometimes unthinkable results. But it’s fucking brilliant.

And to top it all off, there’s also a piece on why garden sheds make perfect homes.
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