A Tube and Overground station in east London has become the latest to have its “community library” removed – despite Sir Sadiq Khan promising to prevent the loss of passenger book exchanges.
Blackhorse Road station, which is served by the Victoria line and London Overground’s Suffragette line, was one of many London Underground stations that had a bookcase used by commuters to share second-hand books.
But it too has fallen victim to London Fire Brigade concerns about the potential fire risk – despite Transport for London admitting it has no knowledge of bookshelves at any station “causing or aggravating” a blaze in the last 30 years.
It has also emerged that a number of the book swaps were set up in stations last year by TfL to encourage commuters to read.
Other stations to lose their bookshelves after the fire brigade intervened include Highbury & Islington, Clapham North and Oval. The bookshelves are normally located in the surface-level ticket halls.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, revealed on Tuesday that Blackhorse Road had become the latest station to be affected.
She said in an email to constituents: “Transport for London have also confirmed that the community bookcase has been removed from the station at the behest of the Fire Brigade because they judge them a fire risk.
“Transport for London claim they are seeking to find a way to reintroduce them and that retail spaces including newsagents can remain.”
Ms Creasy told The Standard: “In Walthamstow local free libraries are an institution that give much joy to many - it seems incongruous to demand they be removed from stations, but newsagents remain.
“If the presence of paper books in itself is a fire hazard, so too I presume by the same logic newspapers will be banned from trains and magazines confiscated at the ticket gates.”
Last month, when the removal of the bookshelves at other stations first came to light, Sir Sadiq said it had been done without his knowledge – and pledged to get the decision reversed.
He told The Standard in March: “I’ve seen the difference they make, by speaking to commuters around Highbury & Islington, Oval and other parts of the network.
“TfL and LFB are responding to my request, and I’m hoping there’ll be a very swift announcement that this decision has been u-turned.”
Passengers had expressed dismay after signs began emerging in stations because of a fire brigade order to remove “combustible materials”.
The signs read: “Due to fire safety regulations from the London Fire Brigade, we have been forced to close all book exchange libraries on all London Underground Stations with immediate effect.
“We are all sad to see this go. Thank you for all your support over the years.”
TfL sources say it is continuing to work with the fire brigade to resolve the issue.
Last week TfL answered a freedom of information request about the “disgusting” removal of the “community book swap” at Northfields station.
TfL said: “We are not aware of any fires that have been caused or aggravated by the presence of book exchanges on the TFL system over the past 30 years.
“The book exchanges have been withdrawn, following discussions with the London Fire Brigade, while we review their compliance with fire safety regulations and to ensure that we provide a safe travelling and working environment for our customers and colleagues.”
TfL added: “No books or DVDs have been disposed of - they have been placed into secure storage.
“We are reviewing the situation and are engaging with the London Fire Brigade to see if book swaps can be re-introduced at some stations across the network in the future.”
According to TfL, it faced regulatory action from the fire brigade if it did not remove the books from sub-surface stations – regardless of where the “libraries” were located.
Looking for divine intervention on how we make walthamstows stations accessible and safe with deputy mayor for transport @SebDance - Seb spent a lot of time today looking at our challenges with station and the buses and trains. Will keep Walthamstow posted on what happens next! pic.twitter.com/eAlnwK5fUz
— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) April 10, 2025
TfL said the libraries breached the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railways stations) (England) Regulations 2009 – as Article 7 (1) states All parts of the station premises must be kept clear of combustible refuse or other combustible material.
It said that books also had to be removed from surface-level stations and a request to reinstate them made to TfL’s fire safety unit.
“The request should include a marked-up fire plan of the location of the book library, pictures of the location as a minimum and only if approval is then gained from the FSU, can the book library can be reinstated,” TfL said.
Sir Sadiq’s deputy mayor for transport, Seb Dance, recently visited Walthamstow to learn about the accessibility problems at Blackhorse Road station caused by the lack of a “down” escalator to the Victoria line.
The escalator was taken out of service in January for repairs and will not be back in use until July, according to TfL. Passengers have to use the stairs.
