Bedsit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation consisting of a single room with a shared bathroom and lavatory; they are part of a legal category of dwellings referred to as Houses in multiple occupation. In some cases the room has a small formal kitchen area but it is common for the tenants to have no more than an electric kettle and single electric ring.

Bedsits arose from the subdivision of larger dwellings into small low-cost accommodations at low conversion cost. In the UK a growing desire for personal independence after World War II led to a reduced demand for traditional boarding houses with communal dining.

Bedsits provided the settings for television situation comedies such as Rising Damp because they offered restricted sets that reduced production costs.

In Austria a bedsit is called a flatette; it lacks the overtones of poverty associated with the English word. An Austrian flatette is a single room apartment, equipped with a bed and a small kitchen. The shared lavatory and bathroom are situated on the corridor.

The American equivalent to a bedsit is an SRO — a single-room occupancy hotel. The American studio apartment is a one room apartment with a small adjoining kitchen and a private bathroom.

People seem to think that bedsits are associated with poor people. It is referenced this way in Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues: "bedsitter people look back and lament/on another day's useless energy spent". However, if someone lives in a different town from the one in which they work, they may rent a bedsit at low cost to stop themselves from having to drive many miles to and from work each day. This is, in the modern day, quite common.