London has a wealth of extant former workhouses, including Gordon Road Workhouse (Peckham), St Matthew’s Bethnal Green Workhouse, Holborn Union Workhouse, West Ham Union Workhouse, Leytonstone, Havil ...

The logic is this: Holborn’s escalators are the second longest on the tube network (after Angel’s) and many people end up queuing to stand on the right leaving the left side rather empty.