Londoners have many regional-specific rules, none less so than the golden rule of always standing on the right of an escalator. It might seem like a simple and maybe even odd task, but you can fully expect someone to ask you to move to the right if they're heading down an escalator.
As the first successful escalator was put in place back in 1911 at Earl's Court Station a diagonal partition was put in place to help direct travellers disembark on the left. However, there was concern that walking passengers would clash with those standing on the escalator, so it was encouraged that those standing should do so on the right.
There had been concerns that everyone standing to the right could create some issues with escalators. As China previously saw some escalators become uneven over time as more and more people stuck to the right.
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