My parents used to have the very same fitting in their kitchen while I was very young! They had a slightly different version which had a clear ribbed diffuser on it. My Aunt up in Liverpool had a TWIN 2ft version... you think this is ugly!! The twin version was beaten up with the ugly stick!!

I'd still love to have one though I wonder how long they made them?

I remember Argos selling these! There was also a 2' twin, 3' and 4' singles as well as a circular 40w with prismatic diffuser which were in every other old dear's lounge!

They were made up until the early 90's - I actually converted the one in my parent's kitchen to a 20w single ballast and mounted it centre of the fitting so it was not unbalanced... that's until I managed to convince them I was (a) old enough and (b) knowledgeable enough to rip it down and put up a 4ft T12 Thorn Popular Pack!!

The 3' version I once had was T12 with a Canadian made Sylvania Lifeline white tube. I've also seen a couple with Thorn EMI 3' T12s but that was 20 years ago!

So what happens if you put a T8 in this?

End glow. The starter opens but since there's no inductive kick nothing happens and the starter closes again. Like a tube that's failing on switchstart minus the flash basically.

That's about all that happened with the one we had and that was using a T12 Sylvania warm white 2ft tube.

Was wondering over the weekend, I wonder if this modern 3D printing could print out a couple of end caps? Would love to DIY one of these! Lovely fitting!

Can`t say I`ve ever seen a single version of these!