to think that boarding houses could come back into fashion (not boarding schools)

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-66591376

This news report got me thinking. When my Dad was a student, he rented a bedroom in someone's house, alongside other students. Quite simple accommodation without facilities that people might expect nowadays, but it was affordable and convenient. And extra income for the landlady

I wonder if this arrangement might become popular again, with (1) students / young professionals struggling to find suitable accommodation and (2) home owners struggling to pay mortgages

This type of larger property just doesn't exist any more. The OP said in their first post that it would help "home owners struggling to pay their mortgage". That's why I think most of us initially though they were talking about a single lodger not an actual boarding house.

I think what has happened in a lot of cases is that in tourist areas these larger properties have become holiday flats or b & B's and in non tourist areas they have been split up into flats.

No-one is going to invest in such a large property and go through all the admin (HMO/fire regs etc etc) as it just would not be profitable.

As property is so expensive I can't really see it coming back again except in the sense of families taking in a lodger.

Surely boarding houses arose out of a fairly unique set of social and economic circumstances? For much of the twentieth century property was relatively cheap with lots of large, unmodernised Victorian houses - many of which have now been converted into flats. Plus the impact of the two world wars e.g. a war-widow might decide to rent out rooms rather than struggling to get into the workplace with non-existent childcare.

Many families in tourist areas do this to 'board' foreign students. The first time I came to the UK I stayed for 4 weeks with a family in Eastbourne, sharing a room with another foreign student. They cooked breakfast and dinner for us, and we were allowed to watch TV in their lounge. It was a tiny 3 bed Barrat box, they had 2 children themselves. There were hundreds of foreign students in Eastborn, all boarding with local families. Later I moved to Oxford and lodged with a family, i.e. they didn't provide food for me or cleaned my room. But there were many pupils in Oxford who boarded with people, and if you live in Oxford or Brighton/Eastborn area, you get regularly leafleted whether you want to house 2 or more foreign pupils and cook for them, do their laundry etc.

Which is why it was a boarding house - you got bed AND board, ie meals.

Abbeyfield have houses like this for the elderly. They have to be in good health, there's no personal care, just bed and board.

I just think nowadays a boarding arrangement is more expensive than lodging, so wouldn't help students. I payed less for lodging than boarding, and for boarding had to share a room.

The 1950s, George Orwell, idea of boarding houses was for single men who had a job but weren’t from the area. With draconian war widow landladies.

The depressing lifestyle of one bath a week, meals on rationing often heavy on boiled cabbage and strict rules on who could visit probably drove them to marry early!

Nowadays I think some people who need help with their mortgage offer language students a single or twin room with bed, breakfast and evening meal. Or University “digs” without food but use of kitchen and bathroom.

My Great-Gran ran a boarding house in the 70s. It was all older, single men and she cooked their meals and cleaned.

She gave it up after she left my Nan in charge while she went home to Ireland for a visit and 3 of them died (all of natural causes) but still..

The government gives people a tax break to rent a room in their house. Up to 7250 pounds income is tax free per year. Many people make use of that.

They were common here to back in the first half of the last century. One in our town by docks burned down and many men lost their life.

Board and lodgings is a place to stay (lodgings) with meals provided (board)

So a Lodger would usually cook their own meal while a boarder would have meals provided.

For those who remember Rising Damp, I'd describe that as a lodging house.

Films where a man lived with a landlady who cooked his meals and probably washed his clothes for an extra fee would be a boarding house, strictly no guests of the opposite sex etc.

No OP, a lodger is when you rent a room in someone else’s house. It is v common. Have a look at Spareroom.com and you’ll find thousands of people looking for lodgers.

Like the sitcom rising damp

I think the word you are looking for is a hostel. They used to be provided for staff at some places, and I think there used to be hostels for single police officers, nurses etc. I went for a job in a well known supermarket in London many moons ago and they had a hostel for staff to lodge . It's a good thing and should definitely make a come back

And then, to complicate matters, you have the notion of 'taking in boarders', like Sylvia does in Ballet Shoes, which is a much grander notion than the theatrical boarding house/ digs.

Although I am not sure how the boarders ate, all I seem to recall them consuming is alcohol! Perhaps Nana did them some kippers or a nice posset?

I’m in the US, but somewhat ironically my DH and I are thinking of setting something similar up to this in a few years. It’s a unique situation and we’d be catering to a very specific group.

Essentially it’s an area that has several (8-9 ) passenger boats that do summer cruises - small historical sail. The boat kids (20-somethings) crew these boats are a nomadic bunch that travel from contract to contract with very little in the way of possessions.

We are planning to move to the area in a few years and if we can find the right house we want to offer up this type of lodging for the kids. We floated the idea to the crew one year (no pun intended) and they loved it.

Most of the time they are sleeping on board, they only need accommodation random nights and during the full time at the front and end of the season. They will then move on to other contracts in warmer places for the winter.

They need a place to wash clothes, maybe store a car, and they don’t want to fool around with cooking or cleaning when they at port. If we do it we’d offer basic accommodation (bed and a wardrobe), linens, cleaning, and meals.

Right now a bunch of them will rent a place and all contribute, but that comes with all the drama you’d expect for people coming and going and with no real full time residents.

We don’t expect to profit from this. If we can make enough to break even we’d be ok. It’s more about getting into the community.

My sister did this in the early sixties in Australia. Older lady rented out rooms to “suitable young ladies”, provided breakfast and evening meal. Company and money for her, safe accommodation and company for young girls just left home.

They're trying to push this in ireland atm. You can rent out a room and it won't affect your benefits/allowance/tax band

My friend who is a lot older than me went to university in the 60s and boarded with a family and had to share a bed with another student 😂

I am old enough to remember Boarding Houses.

Their name changed to Guest Houses, but were the same.

Each person had a bedroom with a sink.

There were communal dining room, bathrooms, toilets and Lounge with TV.

The Landlady ived in the premises and she cooked and served breakfast and evening meal.

You still get them in holiday destinations, where you can pay for half board (bed and breakfast) or full board (added evening meal).

When I started work a couple of my colleagues had moved a long way from home and started off in boarding Houses. They were cheaper overall than being a lodger because meals were included (though you ate what you were given - there was no menu to choose from!)

I hope communal bath houses don’t come back into fashion, although you do see places like that in motorway services for truckers and those who live “the van life”.

I read a haunting short story by Neil Jordan about an Irish immigrant slowly and intentionally taking his own life in the warm clean bath cubicle.

'Digs' or 'lodgings' used to mean landlady provided meals, everyone sitting at the table at set times.

Some were good, some not.

It still happens and I can see variations of that being affordable now.

This article describes our house. We regularly rent out a room to language students who come to our city to learn English, or to University students who need somewhere short-term to stay in between their tenancies.

Yes. See the film The Lavender Hill Mob. They all live in a boarding house. One big house where the individual people had their own rooms but shared bathrooms. The landlady, usually a widow, would have her rooms downstairs and provide meals.

I think that was it. You had this perfect set of circumstances.
Large houses with plenty of rooms, a war widowed owner who could no longer afford to run the house on her own but she could cook and clean. So she could rent out the rooms, cook the meals and keep a roof over her head into the bargain.

Those big houses are nearly all flats now.