There is only one street in Britain where you drive on the right. It's Savoy Court, the short and taxi-filled road from Strand to the front door of the Savoy Hotel.
- False.
This favourite bit of trivia is a myth. It has been debunked again and again, but refuses to disappear. Savoy Court is not a public thoroughfare (it's privately owned by the hotel), and is not the only one where vehicles drive on the right. Hammersmith Bus Station and various car parks share this 'unique' quirk.
So, over to you - what's your favourite fake London fact?
5 comments:
That the Union Flag flying at Buckingham Palace means the Queen is in residence, when the Royal Standard actually indicates she's at home and the union flag signifies she is elsewhere.
There's a pub near where Fleet Street becomes the Strand with a sign claiming it survived the Great Fire -- which is clearly true as the fire stopped at the City end of Fleet Street.
Gray's Arcade, an antique gallery in South Molton Lane, claims to have the River Tyburn flowing through its basement in a trough. It's on the course of the Tyburn, but the trough is full of tap water made to look as if it's flowing by an electric stirrer. The Tyburn, a very smelly little stream especially in summer, is routed around the building in a closed pipe.
I always believed Big Ben was an old tower with a standout clock. For a person passionate about London, imagine how shocked I was to hear that Big Ben is actually an invisible bell within Elizabeth Tower. Never heard of Elizabeth Tower :(
Those are all fantastic, and Alan's pub sign made me laugh!
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