Another story on a seemingly non-descript part of London
On Carting Lane near the five star Savoy Hotel is a Webb Patent sewer gas lamp, which was invented in the late19th Century by Joseph Webb as a way to draw off bad smells from the underground sewer system and as a low cost, low maintenance way to keep London lit up at night.
Methane was collected by a small dome in the roof of the sewer, with the gas then being diverted into the lamp on the street above. The lamp remained lit 24 hours a day, seven days a week, powered at least partly by the bowel movements of the guests staying at the nearby Savoy.
Locals swiftly renamed it Farting Lane
In 1953 a reversing lorry nearly destroyed the lamp but it was restored and can still be seen at the side of the hotel in Carting Lane. It seems to be the only remaining gas-powered lamp of its kind in London.