Bedsit

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A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation common in Great Britain 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.

Socially, bedsits are often occupied by young single people, students, those who are unable to purchase their own properties, or those who, for one reason or another, are of a transitory nature, because the living costs are comparatively cheaper than those afforded by private property.

Bedsits sometimes provide the setting for television situation comedies such as Rising Damp, because they offer restricted sets that reduce production costs, and force a greater interaction between tenants and/or landlord in communal areas.

The American equivalents to a bedsit are single room occupancy (SRO) and rooming house. The American studio apartment is a one room apartment with a small adjoining kitchen and a private bathroom. A bedsit can also be compared to a Soviet communal apartment, in which a common kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and telephone are shared by several families, each of which lives in a single room opening up onto a common hallway.

Bedsits are often associated with poor people, and are 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". It's also referenced for a similar purpose in the Soft Cell song "Bedsitter", about club life. However, if someone lives in a different town from the one in which they work, they may rent a bedsit at low cost to avoid driving many miles to and from work each day. This is quite common in the modern day.

Harold Pinter's play "The Room" (1957) is a classic "kitchen sink" drama evoking the squalor and social depression of the bedsitting room culture of the time. "The Bedsitter" by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, starring Tony Hancock, produced by the BBC, originally for radio, is a classic depiction of the boredom of bedsit existence.