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i think more people have them these days but still plenty don’t.
IME there is a strong correlation between children and tumble dryers.
Growing up everyone seemed to have a dryer. Then when I was renting and people were getting their first flats no one had one - "why would you? Just hang it up. They're so bad for the environment." So I just assumed they were some sort of 80s hangover.
Now everyone has one again. Because fuck making your place mouldy and damp in winter, unable to do anymore washing because you've run out of hanging space.
hugo7
Also, having a dryer isn’t considered a necessity - i think more people have them these days but still plenty don’t. The climate means you can just about get away with drying clothes outside late spring - autumn. For the winters people without - dry clothes on airers (hanging and standing) near radiators or wherever is least obtrusive).
Larger Victorian housing stock (and older) might have space for what we call a ‘utility room’ for laundry/boilers etc historically might have been the pantry / coal store etc . The 1930s and invention / expansion of the metropolitan train/tube lines out of cities towards countryside gave rise to the ‘suburbs’ as we know them now. Swathes of pattern book- 3 bed houses in pairs or quartets (semi detached ) typically approx 50m2 footprints with small garden front and larger at rear. Separated by alleyways of approx 2m. These were built before boilers / central heating was the norm - so these systems are typically retro fitted with a boiler in the kitchen and tank in the loft. Boiler tech was more widely available come the 60s I think. And later (90s. ? ) combi boilers replaced the old fashioned ‘inefficient’ idea of having a big tank of hot water in the loft that would run out (because at this point people are no longer having one bath shared between the family per day but using power showers.