encounters

urban legends

February 25, 2026

A Tudor-style gazebo sits at the heart of Soho Square, its timber beams sagging and bowing as if tired from centuries of service. It looks like something lifted straight from a history textbook – a stubborn survivor from the 16th century. Except it isn’t. We later discovered it is a fake built in 1925.

Naturally, fabulations about this structure have flourished. Some claim it served as an air-raid shelter during World War II. Others insist it cleverly conceals an electricity substation for the Charing Cross Electricity Company. A more boringly practical explanation suggests it is nothing more than a shed for garden tools. And then there is the favourite urban legend: that the hut guards the entrance to a secret tunnel leading all the way to the Buckingham Palace.

Pick whichever version you fancy. Or better still, invent your own.