THIS RENTAL OPPORTUNITY in London has gone viral, because it’s quite literally a shed in a living room for almost £500 a month.
It’s sparked incredulous headlines and something of an outcry.
But what’s it actually like to live there?
Irish performer and artist Xnthony lived in that very flat until quite recently. He used that shared space and said it really wasn’t that bad:
It was kind of a communal space. The shed was there when I moved in and a guy rented the room and slept in the shed. I worked in the space, reading, writing, working on my show.
Xnthony’s now moved out of the flat. He still lives in London but when the rent went up (the shed room jumped from £300 to almost £500 for example) he decided to look elsewhere. He’s back in Dublin for a few weeks working on a show for the Tiger Dublin Fringe festival, but said the ‘shed room’ was the perfect area to work on his art.
It was super cosy. It sounds a bit bizarre but it was the heart of the house. We understood each other so if they guy who rented the room wanted a bit more space that was fine.
Xnthony says that the sleeping area isn’t half as bad as it seems.
It fit a double bed and had really nice curtains. The windows weren’t blacked out like has been reported.
He said that the ‘shed room’ is something of a conversation starter in the area; had had heard about it before he moved in.
The thing about London is that there’s very little living space that’s not communal. People take what they can.
Xnthony’s Tiger Dublin Fringe show Douze is half art project, half a bid to get him to represent Ireland in Eurovision 2016. He’s offering an alternative to the tired old Late Late Show selection process, and will be presenting around nine or ten songs to his audience and asking them for their direct approval.
It’s an honest appeal to people to help me go forward. Irish people aren’t very good at putting themselves forward for things. I’m not assuming that I’ll actually make it, but if it goes well, I’ll keep going with it.
Douze runs at the Smock Alley Theatre from 9-13 September
