What's this pipe...?

[-Lummox-]

Bit of an odd one this... ever since we moved into our house we've been wondering what this pipe is for. It's in our dining room, and appears to have been capped internally. This is a ground-floor room, in a house with no basement, so we can't access the pipe from beneath to see where it goes. Clearly the previous owners of the house were apprehensive about cutting the pipe so just did this ugly bodge-job when fitting the laminate flooring and left the pipe in place.

Any ideas how we could establish what it's for and whether it is OK to trim / cut in order to lay flooring over the top of it? It does not border an exterior wall, so I don't think it can be anything to do with an old boiler, but if it's not something to do with the boiler, what the hell is it for???

[Mr Pointy]

How big is it? If it's more than 25mm or so it's unlikley to be gas so shouldn't bring the house down if the you cut it.

[GasEngineer]

As well as measuring the diameter, can you tell if it is plastic or metal?

[-Lummox-]

Pipe is metal (steel at a guess, seems too hard to be lead) and internal bore probably about 30mm?

House is ex-council built around 1950.

[OutInTheShed]

It could easily be realted to an old boiler, it was common to have gas fires with back boilers on internal walls last century.
Also coal stoves with some water heating or a couple of radiators
Some of these were un-pumped thermal syphon so big bore?

Could also be a sink drain.
Crackpot suggeestions might include fixed vacuum system or conduit for Rediffusion TV...

A mate used to have underfloor heating in an old-ish housewhich his Dad had built in the 50s or 60s IIRC.

Any history of 'community heating' in the district?

[-Lummox-]

I'm pretty sure the house used to have a central fireplace / chimney running up trough the middle, but this pipe is on the other side of the original wall to where that would have been.

No idea about community heating in the area previously, dunno if that would have been something in keeping with the "garden city" ethos though, sounds like it could be...

Is this the sort of thing I'd need to get a plumber to inspect to be certain of its purpose?