Two hundred people came together at the same sofa shop in Soho yesterday, for no apparent reason other than to congregate.

The small sofa outlet on Tottenham Road was the scene for Britain's first 'flashmob'.

The fad, which started in New York, sees vague instructions posted on web sites such as www.flashmob.co.uk, letting people know where to meet up.

Flashmobbers then gather at pubs and bars near the mob location, where final details of the 'mob' are discreetly handed out by organisers.

The result? Yesterday, at precisely 6.31pm, two hundred people who had never met before descended on the same surprised sofa salesman's store, spent seven minutes praising his wares, then evanesced back into the city streets.

Last Friday in Berlin, at 6.01pm 40 people reached for their mobile phones in a crowded street and began shouting 'Yes! Yes!' (in English) into them.

The Germanic world is top of the flashmob tree at the moment, with events already staged in Dortmund, Vienna and Zurich.

New York is allegedly the birthplace of flashmobbing. A recent mob saw 200 people meeting in Central Park, near the Natural History Museum, to imitate birds and chant 'nature' before quietly going their separate ways.

So what is the point of these transient gatherings? I'll let the Birmingham Smartmob explain:

What does a 'smart mob' do?
- join together momentarily
- perform an unusual task
- leave an impression on witnesses

What is a mob?
- art installation
- cultural critique
- anthropological experiment
- excuse to do something different

Who mobs?
"We're the same as you. We work in grey office buildings. We have mortgages, bills, kids and we drive Fords. It doesn't matter who we are, there is no individual - only the mob."

[from http://mobstirs.no-ip.org]