Two-up two-down is a type of small house with two rooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms upstairs.
There are many types of
terraced houses in the United Kingdom, and these are among the most modest. Those built before 1875, the
pre-regulation terraces, shared one toilet between several households. Those built after the passage of the
Public Health Act 1875
The Public Health Act 1875 ( 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, one of the Public Health Acts, and a significant step in the advancement of public health in England.
Its purpose was to codify previous me ...
(
38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), the so-called
byelaw terraced houses, each had its own toilet, usually outside. The rapid urbanisation of Britain during the Industrial Revolution meant that these small cheap terraces were widespread in towns and cities.
In the 20th century, and early in the 21st, areas of this type of dwelling were often targeted for demolition and redevelopment, under a
slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
programme, but in some areas local community groups campaigned to save them, such as Toxteth Street in
Openshaw
Openshaw is a suburb of Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, about three miles east of the Manchester city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Lancashire, Openshaw was incorporated into the city of Manchester in 1890. ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
.
In media
The 1966 song "
No Milk Today" by
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English rock and pop group formed in 1963 in Manchester and formerly fronted by singer Peter Noone. Known for their jaunty beat sound and Noone's often tongue-in-cheek vocal style, the Hermits charted with numerous tra ...
mentions the song's protagonist's love interest as having lived in a two up two down.
The 1974 song "
Snookeroo" by
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
mentions the singer's house as being "two rooms up, and two rooms down".
The song "Too Up And Too Down" by
Jez Lowe on his 1993 album ''Bede Weeps'' implies that the song's protagonist lives in a two-up two-down house.
References
{{Housing in the United Kingdom
Architectural design
House types in the United Kingdom