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Original poster

Do you know what a Paternoster lift is?

238 replies

Pinksands1 · 28/07/2020 05:41

I dont know how I had never heard of this type of lift before. The wikipedia definition says 'consists of a chain of open compartments that move continuously I'm a loop up and down a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like'.

Anyway, they look bloody terrifying. I am so uncoordinated, I just know I would faff about trying to get on quickly and do myself an injury! Has anyone used one? Are they as scary as they look? Smile

OP posts:
MactheRover · 28/07/2020 10:00

Did my Masters at Sheffield. Good Uni, Never liked that lift. The more you thought about getting on it, the worse it got.

FourPlasticRings · 28/07/2020 10:05

Had one at my uni. Rode all the way around it quite a few times. Not scary at all really, I think it's been a casualty of the health and safety culture since though.

FluffyKittensinabasket · 28/07/2020 10:13

A government department I worked in had one. They closed it off after a member of staff was beheaded.

PaperMonster · 28/07/2020 10:15

Jeremy Vine had a bit on his show last year about them - there was one being taken out of a Uni somewhere. Sounded horrible - but I am scared of lifts so don’t think I’d have liked these!

TheSunIsStillShining · 28/07/2020 10:26

YES!!! :D
Got "stuck" in one and went around. It was funny. Loved it!

TwoBlueFish · 28/07/2020 10:28

Yes, used one regularly at Uni (Leicester Poly, now DeMontfort Uni)

JeffVaderneedsatray · 28/07/2020 10:32

I went to Newcastle Uni in 1987 and had lectures in the building that had the paternoster lift. I loved it although it did take some getting used to at first. Given that the tutorial and lectures i had in the building were all on about the 10th floor it was paternoster or stairs and I hated the stairs more! (The other lift was staff and people with a disability only)
I did get stuck between floors once and had to climb out - that did scare me in case it started again while I was climbing as I was on the down side at the time.
My final year of my degree was 1990 but by then none of my lectures were in that building.

Snog · 28/07/2020 10:43

I Unexpectedly encountered a paternoster lift in Essex uni library whilst very hungover. Was supposed to meet my friend who studied there, she had not mentioned the insane lift system.

I Anxiously studied the timing of how others got into the lift for ages before working up courage to get in. Had to wait ages for an empty slot because whilst most folk happily got into a slot with another person already in it I didn't dare chance this.

Immediately after I got in it dawned on me that I hadn't studied the timing of how to get out. And that if I gave myself too long to figure this out I would go up to the top and flip over on my head.

To this day I have nightmares about lifts.

WildRosie · 28/07/2020 10:46

There used to be a paternoster in the Brotherton Wing at Leeds General Infirmary. I don't know if it's still there.

Topseyt · 28/07/2020 10:48

I’ve seen them occasionally. There was one in public building near where I used to live in Cologne.

To be honest, the very idea of it terrified me. I could never have coped with getting on and off a moving thing. Ever. I used the stairs.

BikeRunSki · 28/07/2020 10:48

@JeffVaderneedsatray

I went to Newcastle Uni in 1987 and had lectures in the building that had the paternoster lift. I loved it although it did take some getting used to at first. Given that the tutorial and lectures i had in the building were all on about the 10th floor it was paternoster or stairs and I hated the stairs more! (The other lift was staff and people with a disability only) I did get stuck between floors once and had to climb out - that did scare me in case it started again while I was climbing as I was on the down side at the time. My final year of my degree was 1990 but by then none of my lectures were in that building.
I went to Newcastle uni in 1989 and I was gutted that the Claremont paternoster had been taken out.

People on this thread may be interested in this webpage

BikeRunSki · 28/07/2020 10:49

Wrong ^ I went to Newcastle uni in 1992

MeadowHay · 28/07/2020 10:49

Just to pick up on a poster saying a paternoster is a disability access issue - I'm sure any modern buildings that still have one also have alternative lifts for disability access. Uni of Leicester certainly did.

WorriedMummy2020 · 28/07/2020 10:49

Yes there was one at my uni too.

ArriettyJones · 28/07/2020 11:11

@MeadowHay

Just to pick up on a poster saying a paternoster is a disability access issue - I'm sure any modern buildings that still have one also have alternative lifts for disability access. Uni of Leicester certainly did.
Yes that’s the point. That accessible alternatives are legally mandated for the benefit of the disabled. Not something that might happen to be there for the benefit of “weirdos”, as a PP charmingly put it.
Lemonmaid · 28/07/2020 11:22

They look very dangerous and scary.

What if it got stuck in between floors or at the loop?

Also my fear of heights would be a problem on one of these, especially in a tall building.

And the fear of falling out Shock

FourPlasticRings · 28/07/2020 11:31

What if it got stuck in between floors or at the loop?

Well, you don't have to ride over the loop. There's an up side and a down side. And there's a red pull cord in each floor that stops the lift immediately, so in the event that it stopped, you'd just pull the cord and climb out. Much easier than if a lift gets stuck between floors, because then you're trapped.

tectonicplates · 28/07/2020 11:35

I've never been in a paternoster lift as it sounds terrifying, but the London Eye has the same sort of principle, in that the whole thing keeps moving and you have to step in or out at the right time. Given that I once fell over while stepping off the back of an old-style Routemaster bus, it's scared me off trying to step in or out of anything that's already moving.

Pugdoglife · 28/07/2020 11:44

I regularly used the one at Sheffield university, they are so efficient at moving lots of people very quickly, much more efficient than a lift, but also slightly terrifying, I always expected to get injured by it.

TrickyD · 28/07/2020 11:55

Is the Leicester one still there? I remember it in 1971.
I have just discovered that they are so called because the compartments are like Rosary beads. ‘Our Father etc’.

RoyalCorgi · 28/07/2020 11:58

I have just discovered that they are so called because the compartments are like Rosary beads. ‘Our Father etc’

I didn't know that! I'd always wondered where the name came from.

Am amazed reading this thread to discover some places still have them. They are so dangerous.

Nat6999 · 28/07/2020 12:04

There are some in the arts tower at Sheffield University.

Midwife1997 · 28/07/2020 12:08

There was one of these at Loughborough College in the 1970's when I did my A Levels. Oh my life. As someone else said very efficient but took literally a leap of faith to get used to it.
Midwife

Livingthecovidaloca · 28/07/2020 12:10

Yes, the Arts Tower at Sheffield University!
Then I found one hidden away in Prague in the Lucern Arcade. It was behind a door that needed an access code, but DH and I managed to sneak in behind someone.
But I’ve never dared go up and over!
Weirdly was just describing these a few days ago to DS.

BeginningBridge · 28/07/2020 12:12

There were 2 in the lecture theatre building at Leeds uni in the 1980s which I used most days as a student. I returned a few years ago for a visit and was disappointed that the paternoster lifts were no longer there.

Not sure I would have had the nerve to try them again though!