Metro Tiles: Sizes, Bevels and the 1/3 Offset Rule

Metro tiles are the small rectangular wall tiles that have survived every bathroom
and kitchen trend of the last twenty years, and they are still the tile we fit most often across Bromley
and south east London. They are cheap, they are forgiving, and they look deliberate rather than dated.
What separates a good metro tile wall from a mediocre one is almost never the tile. It is the size you
picked, the offset you set out, and the grout colour you chose to go with it.

This page covers the sizes actually sold in the UK, what the bevel does and does not do, the layouts
that work, and the one setting-out rule that catches people out on the longer formats.

Where metro tiles came from

The format is a transport-system inheritance. New York’s first subway line opened in 1904 with white
glazed rectangular tiles chosen for a practical reason: they were easy to wipe down, they bounced light
around a dim tunnel, and they did not stain. That 3 by 6 inch American tile is the ancestor of the
200 by 100mm tile sold here.

Original Edwardian tiled stairway at Holloway Road Underground station — Original tiling in the stair tunnel at Holloway Road, one of the Piccadilly line stations designed under Leslie Green. Each station got its own pattern. | Holloway Road Underground Station (Piccadilly Line) by hugh llewelyn (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holloway_Road_Underground_Station_(Piccadilly_Line)_-_52813349332.jpg

The London version went its own way. Leslie Green, appointed architect to the Underground Electric
Railways Company of London in 1903, designed more than 50 stations for the Piccadilly, Bakerloo and
Northern lines, and gave each one its own tiled pattern in the platform and stair tunnels so passengers
could recognise a station without reading the name. Several of those original schemes survive. It is
the reason “metro tile” reads as a design decision in Britain and “subway tile” reads as a purely
functional one in the United States.

The bevel came later. European manufacturers added a chamfered edge to the flat brick shape, and that
version is what most UK merchants now list as a metro tile.

The sizes you can actually buy

Two formats dominate UK stockists, and the difference between them matters more than it looks.

200 x 100mm is the standard. Typically 7mm to 8mm thick in glazed ceramic. This is
the size that suits ordinary domestic walls, small bathrooms and splashbacks, and it is the one to
default to unless you have a reason not to.
300 x 100mm is the long format. It reads as more contemporary and covers ground
faster, but it changes the setting-out rules (see below) and it is less tolerant of an uneven wall.
Larger brick formats up to 600 x 200mm and beyond are sold as metro-style, but at
that point you are laying large-format tiles and the substrate flatness tolerances get strict.

Finishes split into gloss, matt, bevelled and textured or handmade-effect. Gloss bevelled white is
the volume seller. Matt in a colour is the current move away from it.

Bevelled or flat: what the edge actually does

A bevel is a chamfer around the face of the tile. Butt two bevelled tiles together and the two
chamfers form a shallow V-groove that catches light along every joint. That does three things:

It emphasises the grid. Every joint gets a highlight and a shadow, so the wall reads as many small
tiles rather than one tiled surface.
It hides small alignment errors. Because the eye is drawn to the groove rather than the tile face,
a joint that is a hair out is less obvious than it would be on a flat tile.
It collects more. The groove is a physical trough. In a shower or behind a hob it holds more soap
scum and grease than a flat edge does, so it needs wiping more often.

Flat-edged metro tiles give a cleaner, more modern, more continuous wall. They are also less
forgiving: with no groove to distract the eye, any lippage between tiles shows up in raking light. If
your walls are old and out of true, the bevel is quietly doing you a favour.

Layouts, and the offset rule that catches people out

Metro tiles are usually laid in one of four ways: horizontal brick bond, vertical stack, vertical
brick bond, or herringbone. Brick bond, where each row is offset against the one below, is the default.

Here is the part most guides skip. A 50 per cent offset, where each tile starts at the midpoint of
the tile below, is the classic look and it is fine on 200 x 100mm tiles. On longer formats it is not.
Rectangular tiles are fired flat but come out of the kiln with a slight bow along their length, and
that bow grows with the length of the tile. Stagger a long tile at its midpoint and you are setting the
highest point of one tile against the lowest point of its neighbour, which produces visible lippage
along every joint.

The fix is to offset by no more than a third of the tile’s length rather than a half. On a 300mm tile
that is a 100mm step instead of a 150mm one. It reads almost identically and it removes most of the
lippage. As a rule of thumb: 200 x 100mm can take a half offset, anything 300mm or longer should get a
third. The relevant standard for internal wall tiling is BS 5385-1, and the substrate tolerance it works
to is no more than 3mm deviation under a 2 metre straight edge. If your wall is worse than that, fix the
wall before you argue about the offset.

Herringbone is a different job again. It needs a true 45 degree setting-out line and a lot more
cutting at the perimeter, and it is worth reading our separate guide on
laying metro tiles in a herringbone
pattern before you commit to it.

Grout colour changes the tile more than the tile does

With metro tiles the grout is not a background detail, it is roughly a third of what you see. The same
white gloss tile gives three completely different walls:

White or off-white grout disappears. You get a soft, continuous, quiet wall. It is
also the least forgiving of dirt in a shower and of any wobble in your grout lines.
Mid grey grout is the current default. It draws the brick pattern clearly, stays
looking clean far longer than white, and flatters a bevelled tile because it deepens the groove.
Dark grey or black grout turns the wall graphic and industrial. It is unforgiving:
every joint width is on display, so setting out has to be genuinely accurate.

Joint width matters too. Metro tiles are normally fitted with a 2mm to 3mm joint. Go tighter and you
have no room to absorb size variation between tiles; go much wider and the wall starts to look like a
warehouse. Our guide on choosing a grout
colour goes into the trade-offs in more detail.

Where metro tiles are the wrong choice

Being honest about this saves money. Metro tiles are glazed ceramic wall tiles. That means:

Not for floors. Standard metro tiles are not rated for foot traffic and will chip
and craze. If you want the look underfoot you need a porcelain equivalent with a slip rating suitable
for the room.
Not outdoors. Glazed ceramic wall tile is not frost-resistant in a British winter.
A lot of joints. A 200 x 100mm tile produces about 15 linear metres of grout line per
square metre of wall. A 600 x 300mm tile produces about 5. That is three times as much grout to seal,
maintain and eventually replace, which in a shower enclosure is the thing that ages first. If low maintenance is the priority, a large-format tile
or a panel is the better answer.
Busy walls fight them. On a wall broken up by a window, a boxed pipe, a shower valve
and a niche, the small grid produces a lot of awkward cuts. It can still be done well, it just takes
longer.

Frequently asked questions

What size are standard metro tiles in the UK?

200 x 100mm is the standard, usually 7mm to 8mm thick in glazed ceramic. 300 x 100mm is the common
long alternative. Larger brick-shaped formats are sold as metro-style but behave like large-format tiles
for setting out and substrate flatness.

Should I use bevelled or flat metro tiles?

Bevelled gives a traditional look, emphasises each tile and hides small alignment errors, which helps
on older uneven walls. Flat gives a cleaner contemporary surface but shows lippage more readily. In a
shower or behind a hob, remember the bevel groove holds more soap scum and grease and needs wiping more
often.

Can metro tiles be used on a floor?

Not the standard glazed ceramic ones. They are wall tiles and are not rated for foot traffic. If you
want the brick look on a floor, buy a porcelain tile in that format with an appropriate slip rating for
the room, and check the manufacturer’s rating rather than assuming.

What grout colour goes with white metro tiles?

Mid grey is the safest choice: it defines the pattern, flatters a bevel and stays looking clean longer
than white. White grout gives a softer continuous wall but shows dirt in wet areas. Black or dark grey
looks striking but exposes any inconsistency in your joint widths.

Why do my long metro tiles look uneven along the joints?

Most likely a 50 per cent offset on a tile that is too long for it. Rectangular tiles carry a slight
bow along their length, and a half offset puts the crown of one tile against the end of the next. Offset
by a third of the tile length instead. The other common cause is a substrate outside the BS 5385-1
tolerance of 3mm under a 2 metre straight edge.

How many metro tiles do I need?

A 200 x 100mm tile covers 0.02 square metres, so a square metre takes 50 tiles. Add 10 per cent for
cuts and breakages on a simple wall, and 15 per cent for herringbone or a wall with a lot of obstacles.
Buy the whole job in one batch so the shade code matches.

Getting it right

Metro tiles reward preparation far more than they reward budget. A flat substrate, a considered
offset, a 2mm to 3mm joint and a grout colour chosen on purpose will make a mid-price tile look
expensive. The reverse is also true. For technical guidance on tiling standards the trade body is
The Tile Association, and the wall
tiling code of practice itself is
BS 5385-1.

If you would rather it was set out properly first time, we tile bathrooms, kitchens and splashbacks
across Bromley and the surrounding boroughs. See more of our work and guides at
Bromley Tilers.

020 8058 5574

contact@bromleytilers.co.uk