Sitting in the shadow of Tower Bridge one remarks the cool Scots-baronial decor the Habitat furniture and the marvellously light

Sitting in the shadow of Tower Bridge, one remarks the cool, Scots-baronial decor, the Habitat furniture, and the marvellously light and wholesome menu of soups, salads, asparagus and other such stuff freshly gathered on Albion’s green fi elds. Among the predictable potted shrimps and Cumberland sausage starters lurks the odd delight. Try the quails eggs with haddock and cheese sauce, or go for the plate-loads of beef and lamb, or for nothing at all. Vegetables are treated with old-fashioned English contempt and boiled to extinction Puddings are tasty nightmares of carbohydrates ‘n’ custard. In his typically humourless fashion, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the art historian, called it “silly”.

But then follies are meant to be silly.It is certainly a reminder that, in Soho, things aren’t always what they seem.The potting shed is in the middle of Soho Square, W1. In the midst of all the Cajun, Californian and Chilean cuisines to be found around town, some spectacular oases of home-grown fare are waiting to be discovered. PICCADILLY The menu at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, 100 Strand, WC2 (071-836 9112) (top right) features a Bateman cartoon of “The Man Who Asked the Carver Whether the Meat was English or Foreign”, and that pretty well defines the joint. It’s been squatting there in the heart of theatreland like an English theme park since 1828, haunted by Dickens and generations of nursery-fixated brigadiers.

The potting shed was actually built in 1875.The gardeners of Soho didn’t want just any old shed for storing their tools, they wanted something special. Passers-by stand and argue over its date: 1575? 1581? 1593? In fact, none of these. In one corner is a lovely 18th-century house complete with a cage crinoline staircase which permitted ladies in their finery to sweep up and down in style. The House of St Barnabas now cares for homeless and destitute women.In the gardens is a weather-beaten statue of Charles II which looks as if it has been here ever since the square was first laid out in the 17th century and named King Square in his honour.

But the statue, like Charles himself, has been on its travels. Its last owner was W S Gilbert, of “G and S” fame, who kept it in the gardens of his house in Harrow Weald. In 1938, after his death, Lady Gilbert returned it to its rightful spot – even though she kept the fountain and river gods.However, the real dissembler is the wonderful Elizabethan half-timbered building standing behind Charles II. A promised good time for £10 turns out to be rather less than a good time: the peep show has a wad of chewing gum stuck over the aperture, the expensive strong drink turns out to be alcoholically-challenged (I speak from hearsay, not personal experience).Illusion and reality are definitely on only nodding acquaintance in Soho Square itself. Why? Because Soho seems to offer a world of possibilities, a world turned gloriously upside down.

Once you turn into that self-contained district bounded by Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue and Regent Street, you feel that you are venturing into mysterious and exciting territory.
Is this the night when, eating in a restaurant, you are discovered by a film producer at the next table, or offered a contract by a music tycoon, or asked to star at the Raymond Revuebar or Madame JoJo’s? Stranger things have been known to happen – afterall, it could be you.In Soho, appearances are often deceptive. Even if the district was bulldozed tomorrow and built over with concrete bunkers housing an army of DSS officials, Soho would still be different. There will always be something special about Soho, something which brings a spring to the step and a tingle to the cheek. Most of the 32 photographs have captions derived from customers or staff at the shops. At one Hampstead Garden Suburb store, three women are engrossed in conversation while staff wait patiently and interminably to serve them. The caption reads: “I always meet someone I know at the butcher’s.”
The project is timely – already several shops have closed. As Lillicrapp remarks: “We saw family businesses that had been passed down the generations reaching the end of the line.” His exhibition celebrates that fast-disappearing commodity: variety.10am-5.50pm Tue-Sat, noon-5.50pm Sun, 24 Jan to 12 Mar, Museum of London, EC2 (071-600 3699).