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Londoners share their secrets on hidden gems website
Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Editor19 Feb 2010
A Facebook group started by a 21-year-old Londoner four weeks ago has become an online phenomenon.
The Secret London group attracted more than 80,000 members in its first week and now boasts almost 200,000.
The group proved so popular that founder Tiffany Philippou has decided to turn it into a website and is working full time on its development.
The website asks people to post details of their favourite “secret” thing in London and a map reference.
Miss Philippou, of East Finchley, said: “Something about the site has really inspired people and the response has been overwhelming, with people posting everything from their favourite park bench to the best place to buy vintage clothes.”
The idea began after Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency challenged graduates to create a Facebook group to show off their marketing skills, offering an internship for the best entry.
Miss Philippou won the first round of the competition but has now withdrawn to focus on the website.
“There's an amazing community in the group,” she said. “For instance, we decided last week to make a website for the secrets, and over 50 people volunteered to help. Over last weekend we built and tested the entire site, and it's now up and running.”
Miss Philippou said she had been approached by several firms about commercialising the website. “I'm working full time on the site, so it will be good to be able to find a way to make money from it,” she said.
SOME CAPITAL IDEAS
Brompton Cemetery
Covering 16.5 hectares, it boasts a chapel based on St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Containing over 35,000 monuments, it is believed Beatrix Potter took the names of many of her characters from the cemetery.
Dover Street “Ghost” Tube
With no public access, you can only see the station as the trains decelerate between Green Park and Knightsbridge. The last person to use it was Winston Churchill, and it still has all the original posters, walkways and hand-painted signs.
London's best Banoffee pie
Konditor and Cook in Borough market is apparently the place to go for the best banoffee.
Graffiti at Finsbury park
The graffiti at the disused railway station is far more impressive than the obvious spots to see graffiti.
www.secretlondon.us
Reader views (3)
Dover Street is actually the original, now disused part of Green Park station. At street level it is now a restaurant and the subway to the lift shafts below ground can be seen from the stairway up from the Piccadilly line platforms.
The station used in WW2 was Down Street, which is just west of Green Park.
- Tubey, Sussex, 21/02/2010 06:43
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Tiffany's idea of Secret Cities is great. It inspired us here on Madeira Island (I think that many readers knows where it is ...) to also start with a Secret Madeira and even a Secret Funchal. Our idea is that we (locals) tell you the secrets of the island ... but experience has shown us that the island visitors are the ones that discover the most hidden gems. We hope they will share also their discoveries ...
- Don Amaro, Madeira Island, 19/02/2010 16:24
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Can 200,000 people keep a secret?! 
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 19/02/2010 11:33
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