News UK might have moved its papers into the Baby Shard – but the Independent is moving to a garden shed, according to Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Indie and Evening Standard. The Russian was inspired by a visit to an exact replica of Dylan Thomas’s famous Laugharne writing shed, which will be displayed outside Store Street as part of the Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia festival this week. Launching the tribute to the poet, Lebedev said: “It does make one wonder to look upon such a humble shed and think of the extraordinary literary achievements that can emanate, quite why the business of a newspaper proprietor need be so expensive. “I know this is the shed’s final stop at the end of a nationwide tour, I’m not sure what’s happening to it next but if it’s available for purchase, I don’t see why we couldn’t run the Independent out of there. Journalists would feel right at home I’m sure, among the cigarette ends and the curled-up photographs.” The Indie’s shoestring staff, used to sharing a coop in the Standard’s newsroom, will no doubt welcome the move to more spacious surroundings.
