A man fainted in front of me on the Central Line last week. The train had just pulled out of Liverpool Street. It was 36 degrees outside. No one was shocked. Two people helped him, one passed over a warm bottle of water, and the rest of us stared at the floor, sweat sticking our clothes to the seats. This wasn’t an emergency. This was normal.
Welcome to summer in London. No air conditioning. No real plan. Just damp handkerchiefs and baked commuters. And still, somehow, surprise every time.
Stuck in a Design That Never Changed
London keeps hitting new summer records. 2022 brought our first 40°C day. In 2025, we hit 37°C in early June. And the Central Line? Still a Victorian sauna. Still gasping. Still unfit for the city it claims to serve.
This isn’t just unpleasant. It’s dangerous. And it’s completely avoidable.
Let’s break it down:
- Only 40% of the Tube has air conditioning
- Deep lines like Central, Bakerloo and Piccadilly were built with no ventilation strategy for heat
- Brake systems, engines and people generate constant warmth with nowhere to go
The result? Trains turn into ovens. Stations become kilns. Passengers drip. Kids cry. People collapse.
Transport for London’s advice? “Carry water and avoid peak hours.”
Translation: Plan your life around our lack of planning.
Nostalgia Doesn’t Cool You Down
We’re still acting like this is about resilience. British stoicism. “You don’t need air con, you need a fan.”
We tell ourselves it’s fine because we’re used to it. We wear linen and mutter “it’s only a few weeks.” We accept discomfort as a badge of honour. As if heatstroke is a lifestyle.
But this isn’t 1975. Or 2005. Or even 2020. Heatwaves are longer. Nights are hotter. And the climate is already here.
Overheating leads to dehydration, hospitalisations, insomnia, reduced productivity. It isn’t just the vulnerable. It’s everyone.
Yet we get nothing more than delay.
The Infrastructure Is a Joke
Where’s the long-term plan? By now we should have:
- Air con on all new Tube trains
- Retrofitting schemes for older stock
- Cooling standards for public spaces
- Energy-efficient A/C incentives
- Proper insulation across housing
Instead, we’ve got:
- Some new Piccadilly trains maybe coming in 2026
- New builds with decent ratings… eventually
- A landlord policy with enough loopholes to drive a lorry through
The government says more air conditioning will increase energy demand. And they’re not wrong. But they’re also missing the point.
You don’t solve climate change by making people sweat through it. You solve it with better systems. Smarter energy. Passive cooling. Heat pumps. Shaded structures. You build a city that works in the heat instead of denying it exists.
Built for the Wrong Century
Most of London’s buildings were designed to trap warmth. Double-glazed Victorian homes. Glass office blocks with no cross-ventilation. The Tube engineered to retain heat.
We’re a city built to fight fog. And now we’re roasting in our own history.
I’ve lived in Amman. In Dubai. In 45°C. You step into the metro there and you breathe again. In London, the train doors open and it feels like a toaster oven. Not because of the heat alone, but because of how little is done to meet it.
What Now?
If you live here, you adapt. You change routes. You carry ice packs. You wear fewer layers. You drink more water than you think reasonable.
And you push. You email your MP. You ask your landlord why your flat is 32°C at midnight. You talk about this every summer until someone finally listens.
Same Heat, Same Silence
I got off the train that day and stood under a tree for five minutes just to cool my skin. That’s how low the bar is. That’s the city we’ve built.
If we keep pretending this is just British weather, if we keep brushing it off with politeness and personal fans, then we’ll keep boiling year after year. No plan. No upgrade. Just sweat and silence.
It doesn’t have to be this way. But it will be, unless someone starts to care more than we complain.
Moey writes here. 
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