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This Irish lad used to live in the ‘shed in a living room’ flat in London

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THIS RENTAL OPPORTUNITY in London has gone viral, because it’s quite literally a shed in a living room for almost £500 (€680) a month.

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It’s sparked incredulous headlines and something of an outcry.

shed Mirror.co.uk Mirror.co.uk

vice Vice Vice

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.

event-douze

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 

Written by Emer McLysaght and originally published on DailyEdge.ie

DE Syndication

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20 Comments
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    Mute SillyBilly
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:09 PM

    What did I just frickin read!!!

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    Mute Lou Tennant
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:38 PM

    That’s it, I’m laying off the rum for a while.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Sep 4th 2015, 11:28 PM

    But with the rum it make sense.

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    Mute Missyb211
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:13 PM

    lol. this is obviously a promo for xnthony

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    Mute samdithers
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:36 PM

    I felt some sympathy until I read his name was xnthony Enough said..

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    Mute Therightman2015
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:09 PM

    Conveniently it gets him his 5 seconds of fame

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    Mute Jamie Jj Tobin
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:17 PM

    Everyone in Europe should build a shed in there living room…. migrant housing crisis solved!

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    Mute Dave Nolan
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:31 PM

    Was interested in hearing about the conditions of London “apartments” having looked for one myself not too long ago (one actually looked like Bag End from The Lord of The Rings) only to see it promoting Xnthony (?!). There’s no place for this promotion on this type of story.

    Also, on an unrelated note, don’t forget to watch X-Factor this weekend on ITV… and only on ITV…

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    Mute little jim
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    Sep 5th 2015, 12:22 AM

    Is it not A-Factor now, just to keep with the theme.

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    Mute Phil Clarke
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:26 PM

    I’ve hotboxed that shed. No word of a lie.

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    Mute Cynical Samwidge
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    Sep 4th 2015, 10:09 PM

    hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah fkn capitalism hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah humans lol hahaahahahahahhahahaha

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    Mute Benny McHale
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    Sep 5th 2015, 1:07 AM

    Can they not squat any more? When I lived in London in the 80s, all the Irish lads lived in empty council flats. All you had to do was change the lock and open an electricity account and you were legit. If they wanted you out badly enough they’d take you to court but as there was a 7 year backlog on squatter eviction cases you’d have moved on long before then.

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    Mute Daniel Carry
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    Sep 5th 2015, 4:28 AM

    How do ya even pronounce Xnthony?

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    Mute Peter Slattery
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    Sep 6th 2015, 8:30 AM

    Cu-nt

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    Mute The Guru
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    Sep 5th 2015, 1:39 AM

    Why does anyone want to live in London? Great for visit but living there I think would be hell.

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    Mute paddy Jennings
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    Sep 4th 2015, 11:43 PM

    at this rate my attic is a semi detached house ffs….!

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    Mute John Condon
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    Sep 4th 2015, 11:59 PM

    I’ve slept in worse.

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    Mute Marc Power
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    Sep 5th 2015, 3:25 AM

    awful place to try to live in. . . noise…violence. .poverty. ..18 years experience there

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    Mute Daniel Murray
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    Sep 5th 2015, 8:13 PM

    and that was only in the shed!!!

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    Mute Mark Jones
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    Sep 5th 2015, 7:03 AM

    My wife puts me in there for punishment. The dog house. Ruf,ruf

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