Nearly three million rooms have vanished in the last five years as a result of Brits knocking through walls to create more space.

Halifax Home Insurance has undertaken research showing that increasing numbers of Britons are smashing internal walls to get the open plan look.

It reveals that 44 per cent of households have failed to notify insurers they have knocked down walls and 25 per cent risk invalidating insurance by planning to take down walls themselves.

The dining room is the most popular to 'knock through' with more than half a million walls earmarked to get the sledgehammer treatment.

David Rochester, from Halfax, said: "In many ways it’s sad to see the decline of the formal dining room, but it appears that they may have become superfluous to modern living where people are perhaps less likely to eat together."

He concluded by urging homeowners to make sure a qualified person carries out any internal work and recommended seeking the advice of a structural engineer before attacking any walls.

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