Somebody asked why ‘turning the heating on is so taboo in the UK’ – 21 insightful thoughts on our annual standoff with the thermostat

Karen Dickinson. Updated October 28th, 2026

In a country where we reach the seasonal cliff edge of late October and it’s suddenly dark and freezing for most of the day, you’d think switching on the heating would be a welcome event.

However, what actually happens is that a lot of us worry about it and resist it, holding out for as long as possible before approaching the thermostat with a sense of abject failure.

They’ve been discussing this peculiarity on the AskUk subreddit after aladdingdong posted this…

Why is turning the heating on so taboo in the UK?

The obvious answer that we might reasonably jump to is the cost-of-living crisis. However, having lived in the UK for a decent number of years now, I’ve noticed a clear pattern in how people approach indoor heating, based on conversations with work colleagues, local friends, acquaintances, and others.

I completely understand the struggle with bills faced by low-income households and the desire to save on utilities. However, the people I’ve met and spoken to are generally relatively well-off and can afford to splurge on luxuries and non-essentials without having to compromise on necessities or worry too much about budgeting.

Yet they’d rather layer up than even consider turning the heating on for a short while. What’s the backstory behind this mentality? Do some people grow up with a sort of parental-induced complex, having been shamed or scolded for wanting a functioning radiator or a warm home as children? Or is it simply stinginess? Or is there more to it?

It seems ironic, given how cold it can get here and how many older homes are built to retain heat.

Many excellent questions there, and the answers revealed some interesting truths about the UK’s national character…

‘People like to play the suffer Olympics in this country.’
–TheWitchCapricorn

‘Being cold, damp and miserable is basically a national pastime.’
–Mynameismikek

‘It’s not taboo, people just like to be competitively tight.’
–Commercial-Pear-543

‘I always thought my dad was mental for how he treated the heating when I lived with my parents. Now I live alone and have to pay the bills I understand.’
–dreamribbons

‘Think on some level it’s a bit of a stiff upper lip thing – taking some level of pride in the enduring of mild discomfort. There’s also a level of social momentum to it – it sort of turns into an inane competition to see who can be mildly uncomfortable the longest.’
–Alert-Foundation2009

‘This is like my in laws. They can certainly afford to keep the house comfortable (they live in a very pricey home and take several holidays a year, which they have earned so no snark there), but choose not to.

It’s particularly odd to me because they are very keen to have us stay, but don’t want to heat the floor they put us up in. We get given a small space heater and hot water bottles ‘in case it’s cold’… and the bathroom is often too cold to shower without shivering. Not very welcoming or hospitable, to be perfectly honest.

They seem to want to be viewed as frugal, which I think plays into it. For example, when they have guests they will shop at Aldi, but normally for themselves at Waitrose. It’s all very odd. My husband says ‘it’s just how they are’.’
–bridgeport4

‘Why put the heating on if another layer does actually do the job? It doesn’t matter how rich you are, who wants to be wasteful with finite energy sources, back when coal was the main source of household heat it was effort and expense, if you can put on a jumper and some thick socks and be fine, that’s the logical thing. Culturally it’s just stuck.’
–ephemeralparts

‘I think people see themselves as martyrs if they can afford to put it on and don’t. Or they grew up not being able to afford it so just kept the habit of not having it on.’
–Southern_Cut8821

‘This is completely anecdotal and probably somewhat stereotypical but my personal opinion is this. Particularly among working class people there is a sense of asceticism whereby the more frugal and willing to put up with discomfort to save money one is the more virtuous they are.

A little like in a monastic order where there is piety in denying oneself and that it displays discipline and self control.’
–alexsmut

10.

‘Interesting. I would say there’s an upper class thing about living in enormous freezing cold houses and laughing about how many jumpers you wear indoors. Noel Coward’s ‘stately homes of England’ even had the line ‘we only heat the west wing for rich Americans’.

I was brought up to believe putting the heating on too much was a moral failing, although recently have been persuaded by the boiler man that it’s cheaper to maintain the warmth than keep heating rooms up from cold. Hurrah! Last winter was cheaper and so much more comfortable.’
–jigglypuff215

11.

‘Queen Elizabeth II famously used a basic two-bar electric fire placed inside the grand fireplaces of Buckingham Palace and Balmoral.

Photos of the Queen meeting high profile political figures and foreign dignitaries with the tiny portable heater glowing behind them often went viral for showing her frugal and down-to-earth habits. The rumour is that the queen preferred to have the heater on the one-bar setting.’
–Training_Yak_4655

12.

‘There’s a huge culture of stiff upper lip in the UK that people take pride in, and putting off the heating until it’s absolutely baltic is definitely a symptom of this.

The whole carry on no matter how shit things are mentality is everywhere in all shapes and sizes. You can see it in how pessimistic we are about politics, why we take pride in orderly ques and why our humour is usually dry.

I never noticed it until I made friends with someone from Poland. I think it all comes back to WW2 and the war rationing, the whole endure and survive attitude. I think it really traumatised Britain for generations.’
–PhoneTheBone

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