We cover all kinds of buildings on Londonist, but one genre that's been severely lacking in appreciation is the humble shed/hut. That ends now.
The Faraday Effect, Trinity Buoy Wharf
If you count the Faraday Effect as a museum, then it's one of London's smallest. Giving off fisherman's hut energy, it's actually a recreation of Victorian electromagnetist Michael Faraday's workshop (though Faraday himself didn't work in a shed), from which he experimented with electric lighting for lighthouses. For years, another shed (of a kind) stood nearby in the form of Fat Boy's Diner. Sadly it, and its delicious cheeseburgers, have now skedaddled.
British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, West Dulwich
The late Gerry Wells' trove of antique wireless sets and TVs was started in his West Dulwich garden, and continues to be housed here in a huddle of outbuildings, open most Friday afternoons, as well as for heritage events. Adding to the shed-like credentials are the various furrow-bowed volunteers found tinkering with wires and circuitboards by lamplight. Fittingly, some of the exhibits are rented out to production companies, and end up on screens themselves. Another Dulwich shed hit the headlines in 2017; Oobah Butler's social experiment The Shed at Dulwich only served guests microwave meals, which didn't stop it becoming TripAdvisor's top-rated restaurant in the whole of London. Intriguingly, the website is still live...
Wandsworth Prison Museum
Another shed museum! In scope, Wandsworth Prison Museum sits somewhere between the Faraday Effect and the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, above. You can make your way around this large shed — which sits in the shadow of the severe-looking prison — in 20-30 minutes, scanning objects which include inmates' denim jackets, and a grisly section about Albert Pierrepoint, the notorious hangman who executed Lord Haw-Haw among hundreds of other prisoners. If you were to read everything in detail, you'd be here a lot longer. But then, you wouldn't want to get locked in — the museum only opens occasionally.
Timbered hut, Soho Square
Every now and then when passing through Soho Square, the doors of its mock Tudor hut are left ajar, allowing a tantalising glimpse beyond. It's had quite the past: built in 1925 as an elaborate entrance to an electricity substation, it later served as the entrance to a bomb shelter. One thing it never was: a secret portal to Buckingham Palace — no matter how much we'd love that to be true. And nowadays? Recent peeks inside have revealed little more than a trestle table, a bin and a handful of gardening tools. In short, it's glorified shed — but how glorious!
Writer's Shed, Dalston
If you ever envied Roald Dahl and his bottom-of-the-garden writing outpost, best look away now — because Weston Surman & Deane's Writer's Hut — constructed in 2013 in the garden of an author/illustrator — is far snazzier than anything the Matilda author had. The jauntily-angled outhouse comes replete with wood burning stove, bookshelves and its own toilet. Most writers living in London would struggle to afford this as a rental property, let alone a whimsical writing space. Wonder how easy it'd be to steal this...
Highgate Woods Information Hut
While Queen's Wood Cafe in Highgate Wood gets all the glory on the socials, our interest lies with a humbler abode close by, namely Highgate Woods Information Hut, now home to a Roman kiln which was excavated in the woods back in 1962. They even do occasional kiln-firing sessions outside. Note: the hut is currently undergoing repairs, and expected to reopen in September 2026.
Shell huts, Victoria
OK, so you can't explore the shell huts of Victoria's Grosvenor Gardens like you can Margate's famous Shell Grotto. But they are an interesting quirk to admire on your lunch break. Designed in 1952 by Jean-Charles Moreux (he was also behind the somewhat grander Institut Francais library in South Kensington), the twosome of huts formed part of the new-look French-style gardens, and are studded with an Anglo-Franco alliance of shells plucked from the beaches of both England and France. Originally, one hut was reserved for the garden attendant (handy when it was raining, no doubt); the other to store tools. As of 2012, one of the huts was still being used for tools and a mower.
Sweheat Sauna, Victoria Docks
When you think about it, saunas are essentially very hot sheds, right? Well anyway, such dubious pigeon-holing is enough for us to include Sweheat Sauna here. Really, this place is more of a petite wellness village — inviting you sweat it out in a communal or private sauna, or to take part in events, including a full moon sauna with singing bowl sound ceremony.
Blackheath Tea Hut
As any local will tell you, Blackheath Tea Hut has been docked in this part of south east London far longer than the Cutty Sark tea clipper — and it serves a better cuppa too. A favourite with bikers pulling off the roaring B210, the hut is legendary for its generous burgers and breakfasts, and — as we found out in 2022 — is an uncharacteristically chatty spot for London too.
Cabmen's shelters, across London
While there's only one Blackheath Tea Hut, there are 13 cabmen's shelters; these bright green huts — built between 1875 and 1950 to keep taxi drivers out of the boozers — are perhaps the quintessential London shed. While you'll need to possess Knowledge to pull up a seat inside, anyone can order a cup of tea to take away.
