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.

When I first worked at HMRC in the 80's I worked on a department that dealt with one of the biggest pension schemes in the country. You could tell when it was a bad winter because of the piles of deceased P45 forms that came in every month. If it is gas that is going up the most, I'm going to use my electric fire & heated blanket to keep warm during the day rather than put the heating on.

[quote EYProvider]@Dutch1e - I grew up in the 70’s, I didn’t know anyone with central heating. Most people I knew had a coal fire or a gas fire in one room, which was lit or turned on for a few hours each night. It was fine, I don’t remember being really cold. Everyone just dressed accordingly; no one sat around in pyjamas every day like they seem to on here.

The word ‘empathy’ is overused on Mumsnet, but I can assure you that if I don’t have empathy, I at least have understanding.[/quote]
Yes, I grew up under similar circumstances and if your parents were like mine they were also constantly worried about choosing between food and warmth for their children.

Playing the "back in our day" card is tempting but unfair.

[quote EYProvider]@Dutch1e - I grew up in the 70’s, I didn’t know anyone with central heating. Most people I knew had a coal fire or a gas fire in one room, which was lit or turned on for a few hours each night. It was fine, I don’t remember being really cold. Everyone just dressed accordingly; no one sat around in pyjamas every day like they seem to on here.

The word ‘empathy’ is overused on Mumsnet, but I can assure you that if I don’t have empathy, I at least have understanding.[/quote]
Yes, the unheated bedroom was the worst. I remember how cold the bed was when you got in! I could never understand how people read or did homework in their bedrooms!

I was young in the 80s but I’m sure that winters were a bit colder than now? Even hear in the south east.
I don’t remember much snow here in the 90s ( the odd day now and again) and I don’t remember much snow in the 2000s either.
I know the weather differs depending on where you live, obviously. Just basing it on the SE weather.

I remember a news report about an old lady in Glasgow who couldn’t afford the heating so would get her flask and go on buses all day around the city with her free bus pass as they were warm apparently. Made me really sad to think about at the time.

(Though part of me thinks it would be kinda fun to just and people watch a bustling city for day on bus 😮)

I grew up in a very poor house where the only room slightly heated was the living room. It is not fun. And pretty crap to only have one room during the winter, that is useable for any length of time, for anything but sleeping.

[quote EYProvider]@Dutch1e - I grew up in the 70’s, I didn’t know anyone with central heating. Most people I knew had a coal fire or a gas fire in one room, which was lit or turned on for a few hours each night. It was fine, I don’t remember being really cold. Everyone just dressed accordingly; no one sat around in pyjamas every day like they seem to on here.

The word ‘empathy’ is overused on Mumsnet, but I can assure you that if I don’t have empathy, I at least have understanding.[/quote]
I grew up in the 70s too and it was really bloody miserable.

Nearest library to me is 30 miles away and opens 9 til 6, 10 to 4 on Saturdays and shut on Sundays.

Quite amazing some think this a solution to fuel poverty.

Just checking my privilege here.

I really didnt think the people who sat all day in the library or shopping centre could possibly be doing it to stay warm. I always thought I was more the social aspect. Getting out and about, watching people go about their business, chatting with their friends.

It never occurred it could possibly be to save on heating bills.

@Maireas - Yes, the unheated bedrooms were cold, as were the bathrooms. And it was colder then as well, proper icy winters.

Don’t remember too much moaning though, or people rushing to the library. Everyone just got on with it.

@EYProvider why moan about what you cant change?

I grew up in a house with no central heating. We used to get Jack Frost patterns on the windows.

On a related note, I once survived a serious heatwave by hanging around air-conditioned buildings all day (shops, cinemas, etc.)
My flat at the time was unbearably hot at night.

So I can totally imagine people doing the same for heat. It's very sad, but it makes sense.

Don’t remember too much moaning though, or people rushing to the library. Everyone just got on with it.

They got on with living with chilblains, bad chests, and a restricted quality of life for some socioeconomic groups. Some died with flu some years or were so severely incapacitated they disappeared into the 'old people's homes'.

I recall comparatively few people living beyond the age of 60 when I was a child (I realise this probably varied by region and occupation).

My friend is a librarian who has currently been signed off sick thanks to covid measures meaning windows constantly open and the library being freezing cold.

I used to go to a community cafe once a week in the community centre where you could get a cooked meal for a donation but the community centre is still closed as a result of Covid.

Good luck finding a warm public building to sit in.

People already do this, and have for decades. In winter, libraries are full of older people sitting reading, from the moment they open.

That is, the libraries that haven't been shut down by the Tories.

What would be good is if there was an thread on Mumsnet like the MSE old school money saving with a focus on energy/heat/fuel.

With tips. Or people could ask questions looking for ideas to solve the problem.

These ideas are often money saving and energy saving. I've picked up a couple. Probably the main one for me was to make maximum use of the oven anytime it's on (ie use every rack with some sort of food on it) then when finished cooking leave the door open slightly to get the heat into the room (obviously have to make sure it's safe and not if you've been cooking something smelly!)

I do this and benefit from the heat but also the fan to cool the oven stops sooner, so that must be a tiny bit of energy saved.

Then I saw a tip for a young family in a flat with super high ceilings. Someone suggested making a game out of it, building a den then heating the den (again safely). I think this really helped and was fun for the DC.

Library worker - Libraries haven't closed over past decade due to lack of use, it's always a cost cutting measure and they are an easy target.
And yes, growing up in the sixties and seventies, central heating was a luxury. I can remember I've on the inside of bedroom windows but most houses had at least one room with a coal fire which kept the room warm. But I think
it will be harder for folk today if they have for example to rely on heating just one room by radiator.

@EYProvider I'm guessing you probably didn't grow up in the north east or Scotland, if you don't remember the 1970s being bitterly cold!

We didn't have central heating either (still don't although I'm in a different part of the country now and we do have decent oil-filled movable heaters, plus heavy curtains at windows and doors, plus dehumidifiers, plus fake Ooodies, plus lots of other combatting the cold techniques) but I remember waking up to see my breath in the air in the bedroom, and ice angels on the inside of the window panes, with the curtains stuck to them. Only one room was ever warm when I was growing up, the living room, and I'm sure the fact that our flat was icy cold, contributing to the black mould in all the rooms at the back (housing association flat) helped hasten my dad's death long before his time (respiratory issues).

In answer to the original question, though, yes, it might be possible to use public buildings like libraries - if the Tories and the Coalition hadn't mounted a never-ending attack on such public amenities via the ever-increasing attacks on the meagre funds that trickle down to local councils.

This is especially apparent in poorer areas like the one where I grew up, which is why the "Levelling Up" nonsense just makes me snort in derision. Still, as long as they can prove how incredibly in touch they are with the peasants by the likes of Andy Haldane spouting forth about Renaissance Florence, what's not to like?!

In case anyone would like a bit of evidence to support that first statement about how rich areas are doing much better than poorer areas out of "Levelling Up", thanks, there's an outline at www.theguardian.com/inequality/2022/feb/02/levelling-up-funding-inequality-exposed-by-guardian-research. Money goes to money still, it seems.

As others have said, libraries (and swimming baths, and parks, and community centres, and lots of other public service locations) are a dead easy target when it comes to cost cutting. The rich are just fine with their latest release Kindles, private gym memberships, walled gardens, National Trust memberships, and country clubs...

I'll be tempted by the library when our energy deal ends. Definitely plugs you can use for laptops.

[quote EYProvider]@Maireas - Yes, the unheated bedrooms were cold, as were the bathrooms. And it was colder then as well, proper icy winters.

Don’t remember too much moaning though, or people rushing to the library. Everyone just got on with it.[/quote]
People just got on with far lower life expectancy too & pre 1947, just got on with having no health service and previous to that, no universal education.

Oh how i yearn for those days.... people knew their place and didn't moan....grateful for the crumbs thrown to them by the local church.

@Svara

The thing is, from an environmental perspective we will have to go back a bit. I don’t want people to be cold but the attitudesomepeople have had, where they want it to be warm enough inside to wear shorts and t shirts all winter, isn’t going to work long term. The MN classic of washing (and tumble drying) towels are every use and never wearing anything twice needs to go. It would be good if we could change the habits of the middle classes without affecting the poor. I think electricity and gas should be cheap for the first x amount then more expensive like income tax (except for those with disabilities who need more power) but I don't know how you could actually make it work.

Perhaps extinction rebellion, or whatever they were called, were on to do thing after all…. Some of the temperatures reported in here are really weird. We moved into an Edwardian detached house at the beginning of 2010, in January while it was snowing. There were no curtains, and the house was cold despite the fact I’d asked the agent to make sure the heating was turned on. We’d set the thermostat to 22 (as my husband was at home most of the time, on dialysis) but the house would struggle to get to that temperature. We had the loft insulation upgraded (it had 300mm when we moved in, but had that doubled), the original single glazed sash windows refurbished and draft proofed (couldn’t and didn’t want to replace, as the wooden ones were orignal), shutters installed downstairs, blinds and curtains installed elsewhere, blocked up the chimneys that weren’t being used and the house was much much warmer. We could go away for 3 weeks in the winter, heating off, and it wouldn’t get as cold as some of the temperatures mentioned here. 14 degrees was the lowest it’d be on our return, and maintaining 22 was easy. So I’d be very surprised if a modern house with double glazing, curtains, cavity wall insulation and decent loft insulation was that difficult or expensive to keep warm, even at todays energy prices.

So I’d be very surprised if a modern house with double glazing, curtains, cavity wall insulation and decent loft insulation was that difficult or expensive to keep warm, even at todays energy prices

Does everyone live in a modern, well insulated house in the same part of the UK then?

We had the loft insulation upgraded (it had 300mm when we moved in, but had that doubled), the original single glazed sash windows refurbished and draft proofed (couldn’t and didn’t want to replace, as the wooden ones were orignal), shutters installed downstairs, blinds and curtains installed elsewhere, blocked up the chimneys that weren’t being used and the house was much much warmer

And how much did you spend doing all of that?

@Nemorth there is it’s called Credit Crunch