Can we use public building to stay warm?

[Jobseeker19]

For example can we sit in the library or town hall for hours and use their central heating and charge our devices in their plugs?

I'm wondering if it will come to this if people cannot afford the new energy prices.

Can I just add if you do go to a library then please borrow books. Even if you don't read them. It's important to keep numbers up.

@hugocat that's funny, we call it the clockwork orange and people regularly do a 'sub crawl' where they get off at every stop and have a drink at the nearest pub then jump back on til the next stop. There's 15 stations 🥴

You can stay on the tube all day for 2 or 3 quid if you change regularly. London buses you'd need to buy a new ticket every hour or so but if you're over sixty then that's free (tubes also free for over sixties Londoners but I have my doubts about them retaining that).

OAP cinema screenings which come with a free cup of tea and a biscuit can be good value.

In my twenties DH was living in the coldest flat imaginable and we'd go to the cinema on a weekend afternoon to keep warm. But libraries have always been a free alternative for lots of people.

Of course. I used to do 'research' for jobs all day at my local library with my laptop plugged in.

I don’t think I’ll be doing the library thing but I’ll be charging my laptop, phone and a power bank on my office days. I’m a public servant so what they take off me with one hand they can give with the other.

@JustWonderingIfYou my thermostat is set to 16 degrees and to keep the house at that temperature the heating was on for a total of 9 hours yesterday.
Without the thermostat on my house can drop below 12 degrees in the winter. I've never left it long enough to see how much colder it can get but it probably would eventually.

You can still ride the circle line all day but I think it will cost you £8.90

Whereas you could get on and off buses all day for £1.50 grin

Funny I was just about to say that I can’t wait til I’m an OAP and can retire and ride the buses all day with my free bus pass. Sadly it would cost me £6 to do this where I live

People have always done this

Its not really that cold that people will be having to live in the library to stay warm in the daytime.

I work in libraries, people already do this and have done for years. It's a given that there will be more with the price rises.

In the early 80s there was a large reading room at our local library which was full all day of people sleeping with their coats on.
What a country this has become when people have to choose to heat or eat!!

I run programmes in libraries and yes people are doing this already. And in the services I work for they are made welcome.

I've worked from home for years and work from the local university library. Free entry in the cafe and public spaces, lots of people on laptops or phones or just reading, lots of charge points. It's clean and warm and it saves turning the heating on at home for one person all day.

I live in a hot country and before I got air con I would do this in heat waves when just a fan wasn’t enough. The authorities tell us to do this if we can’t stay cool at home.

I’d definitely do it if I was too broke to heat my home.

Yes they probably will and I don't see a problem with it. It costs the same to keep the library warm with 2 people in it, or to keep the library warm with 20 people in it. Cost of charging a phone is less than 1p, so even if all those 20 people charge their phones its hardly breaking the bank.

Well I'm going back to the office full time voluntarily esp next winter. Good for that extra movement around the day and also help keep bills down during the day.

@shouldistop do you own your house? If so you should look at insulation (I am presuming you are not in northern Scotland here). If you rent, is your property legal? There are minimum standards of insulation for rental properties coming in.

Do wonder how many of the people currently keen to wfh will want to return to the office and someone else's heating bills ...

@DockOTheBay

Yes they probably will and I don't see a problem with it. It costs the same to keep the library warm with 2 people in it, or to keep the library warm with 20 people in it. Cost of charging a phone is less than 1p, so even if all those 20 people charge their phones its hardly breaking the bank.

Probably costs less to heat a library with twenty people in than one with two. Win win.

As long as you’re spending your money like buying drinks etc where they have these outlets then it’s fine and that’s what it’s there for.

I have done this several times but you have to be careful you don’t end up spending more than you’re saving.

A good compromise would be to go to the library after school and read, so you’re not spending any money but you’re not charging your electronics either but you’ll be using them less which will age electricity.

I already know people who do this.

However the library will incur more costs in wear and tear and toilet use - if it has toilets.

When we were kids in the seventies, my mum used to take us to the library after school sometimes as it waswarm.

[quote Porcupineintherough]@shouldistop do you own your house? If so you should look at insulation (I am presuming you are not in northern Scotland here). If you rent, is your property legal? There are minimum standards of insulation for rental properties coming in.[/quote]
Yes, we own the house. I'm in Scotland but the central belt.

Yes. Those buildings are public funded so the public have a right to their use