A journalist tricked TripAdvisor into making his shed the top-rated restaurant in London, after he and his friends submitted fake reviews.

Oobah Butler, a writer for Vice, transformed his garden shed into a fake restaurant, by making a website and enlisting a photographer to take photographs of the "food" - close-ups of shaving foam, bleach and at one point, the author's foot- that "The Shed" apparently served.

The website boasts: "An appointment-only restaurant located in South London, The Shed has been operating privately for years. In 2017, it decided to open its doors. As of November that year, it was TripAdvisor's top-rated restaurant in London."

He said he knew how to game the respected ratings website because he once made a living by writing fake restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor for £10 a post, in order to boost the businesses up the rankings.

Mr Butler convinced TripAdvisor - and hundreds of potential customers - that his shed in Dulwich, south London, was a real restaurant by buying a cheap mobile phone, registering that number as the restaurant's and refusing to give an address, because the "restaurant" was appointment-only.

Over the next few months, the fake gourmet spot managed to climb the rankings, thanks to Mr Butler and his friends who kept leaving positive reviews.