Anyone who lives in London knows all too well that the tube is full of surprises. Whether it’s someone whipping out an instrument on their way home from a night out, or settling down to what seems like a three-course meal without any awareness of the people around them, you’d like to think you’ve seen it all.
But what you may not have encountered (unless you were out and about on Sunday of course) is a crowd of full-grown adults boarding a tube wearing no trousers, all while acting totally normal about it.
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This may be an unusual sight, but it’s actually part of an annual tradition called London’s No Trousers Tube Ride. Every year, commuters meet up in central London before boarding a tube together while half-dressed.
This year, participants met at Chinatown’s Old Pagoda at 2.45pm on Sunday 11th January. They then began making their way to the tube at 3pm.
Partakers of the event were urged by its Facebook organisers to “keep the (under)pants as normal or low-key as possible” in order to appear like ordinary tube riders.
However, the crowd still decided to take part in a choreographed dance inside King’s Cross Station, all with no trousers on. So I think it’s safe to say they failed in terms of acting natural.
@naseerlondon
It was all just meant to be a bit of fun, but one commuter found himself stuck waiting for delayed tubes with no trousers, posting on TikTok: “Did the no trousers tube ride and now can’t get home because they cancelled all trains… Is this karma??”.
The tradition, which has been taking place since 2009, was inspired by the No Pants Subway Ride in New York. Seriously, what is it with major capital city’s and not wanting to wear trousers?
Surprisingly, the annual No Trousers Tube Ride is not even a fundraising event. It’s just purely for the love of the game.
If you missed out on London’s No Trousers Tube Ride 2026, don’t worry, it’ll be back next year.
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Featured image via TikTok @ciaris_chiaraa
