Why would anyone want to work from home?

I’ve been having an office romance. Not with anyone in the office — but with the office itself. I’ve been going into the office every day during lockdown and I love everything about it: the bike ride from my Camden flat to work in Fitzrovia; the professional feeling that comes from being in a place dedicated to work; a chance to see more life than the limited activities that go on in your sitting room.

I even like office furniture, the soft hum of the photocopier and the stationery box, with its neat cellophane packs of Post-it notes and extensive range of envelopes.

But sadly, as an office-lover, I’m in a minority. The office, which has existed since the days of ancient Rome, is under threat.

The Home Office has told its staff not to come back for a year. Only 30 have returned to the Westminster office of the business department. Experts are saying offices are doomed, as companies embrace working from home — or WFH, to give it its dreaded abbreviation. They’re closing corporate headquarters and setting up local hubs and clubhouses, where staff can drop in occasionally. Boris Johnson’s plea last week for people to return to the office will fall on millions of deaf ears.

Twitter has said its employees can go on working from home indefinitely. Facebook has predicted that, in ten years’ time, half its employees will work from home full-time. A survey last month for the Business Clean Air Taskforce found that nine out of ten Britons who have worked from home during lockdown would like to continue doing so.

Well, I’m the tenth Briton then. According to that survey, people found home-working reduced stress. I found it only increased stress — that post-breakfast feeling at home of self-loathing and listlessness evaporated as soon as I’d got on my bike and walked into the office.