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For a lot of people, one major upside of lockdown has been not having to squeeze on to a sweaty tube carriage every morning, but if you actually miss the smell of your fellow Londoners’ armpits, we’re not here to judge. In fact, we’re here to point out a rather unique way you can replicate that stepping-on-to-the-tube feeling in your own home.
Transport for London is selling off old bits of London Underground train doorways, specifically the bit of metal at the bottom, known as a treadplate.
These heavy-duty strips of metal used to sit under the tube carriage doors, but now one could make a nice industrial-style threshold at the entrance to your flat, or even your home office, if you’re lucky enough to have space for one.
Available from the London Transport Museum shop, the treadplates are 148cm by 10cm and stamped to show their maker: Craven Ltd of Sheffield. The treadplates on sale date back to 1961 and 1962, so are a true, if a little mundane, piece of Underground history.
Like other decommissioned original items sold by the museum, they ‘have been surfaced cleaned’, but the LTM suggests ‘you may wish to clean them further’. So you might also be purchasing some authentic, vintage London dirt for the £95 price tag.
Check out the treadplates here.
ICYMI: A Banksy face-mask work appeared on the London Underground last week.