Scottish Tenements

[jacpol2003]

Why do Scottish tenement flats have storm doors when they are not external doors open to a storm?!

[sft42]

You must never have lived in a tenement....there are times when a big sturdy front door was blessing....usually round about midnight on a saturday after closing time!!

[rekstout]

Do they double up as fire doors?

[jacpol2003]

sft42, yep, lived in tenements all my life! But am talking about the posher ones where each flat has a storm door, making a small porch area before the real front door. Why "storm" door?! Were they flats pretending to be hooses or what?!

[KARL]

This is an interesting one, and I think your response to sft42 is close to the definitive answer. Another possibility is that on a braw day it was (and still is, in many areas) customary to leave the front door open to denote you neednae chap too herd 'cause we're in and oota bed, plus ye're awfy welcome - however, jist in case ye're the thievin sort the inner door is locked, ye ken (but the ooter door is still presentin the intended impression).

[sft42]

aaahhh i ken whit ye mean noo!! Aye i think it's alang the lines aw whit's bin said....pretendin' te be pure dead posh an' aw that....nae real reason fur them ta be there.......da ye think we huv lost the sassenach's yarning oan like this then?

[jacpol2003]

thanks everyone! My friend - you know who you are Agghie! - lives in a flat with these doors and claims it is to stop sand blowing in during a storm! Clearly she has illusions of living in the Sahara and not the inner cities of West Scotland!