Update: Since we published this article on Wednesday, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has stepped in to demand that the decision to close the bookswaps is reversed.
Fire regulations appear to have brought an end to much-loved bookswaps across the London Underground network.
Until very recently, a number of stations featured small collections of books, where passers-by were invited to take a book for free, leave one for somebody else to enjoy, or do both at the same time. It was a lovely way to be economical, environmentally-friendly — and get a little reading time into your commute.
That's now changed.
Londonist reader Ryan Seller sent us an image of a book swap at Clapham North station on the Northern line, denuded of all its books, with a sign that reads:
Due to Fire Safety Regulations from the London Fire Brigade, we have been forced to CLOSE all Book Exchange Libraries on ALL London Underground Stations with immediate effect. We are all SAD to see this go. Thank you for all your support over the years.
It's not just Tube stations, either. In January of this year, Londonist spoke to Michael Peacock, who'd set up a free library at the entrance of Lewisham station in 2022, but had been told recently by London Fire Brigade (LFB) that all of his books and bookshelves must go, prompting what Michael described as a "mental car crash".
In this case, Lewisham station was apparently re-classified as a sub-surface railway station under the Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) England Regulations 2009, prompting the sad and sudden end to Michael's community venture. However, at this time, Tube stations (many of which are undeniably sub-surface) still had their bookswaps.
London Fire Brigade told Londonist: "Ensuring the safety of those using the London transport network is our priority. We are working with Transport for London with regards to their responsibility to remove all book libraries from subsurface stations. This is due to combustible material posing a fire safety risk if it is stored on these premises. Non-subsurface stations have been asked to remove book libraries from display until they have the correct fire safety plans in place."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for TfL told Londonist: "We work very closely with London Fire Brigade and other emergency services to ensure our services run safely and following guidance from the Fire Service, we have advised our staff to remove book swaps from stations. We'd like to apologise to any of our customers this impacts and we are reviewing our processes for these internally and will work with the Fire Service to see if book swaps can be re-introduced at some stations across the network in the future.
"We will also work with local communities to redistribute books to alternative local locations in the meantime."
While safety should always come first, neither LFB or TfL have explained what's prompted this sweeping action, particularly as LFB has cited to us regulations dating back to 2009. Why are these only now being adhered to? What might be done to bring the bookswaps and libraries back? Will the regulations also see the end of pocket Tube maps and other flammable literature? All of this remains unclear.
Since we published this article, LFB has contacted us with an additional quote: "It is Transport for London’s (TfL) responsibility to ensure its premises are compliant under the statutory fire safety regulations that apply. We will continue to work closely with TfL on this issue."
