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    Call for greater access to public toilets
    United Kingdom

    Call for greater access to public toilets

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    18 Comments

    1. HotelPuzzleheaded654 on

      It is irritating now that some businesses give you the code on a receipt for the toilet, I find that pubs are the best bet if you need to use the facilities fast.

    2. ice-lollies on

      The lack of good, clean public toilets is shocking. I think it’s bad that government relies on private business to supply facilities as well.

    3. bulldog_blues on

      This is a serious issue so it’s good to see it getting some focus. As an aside:

      *It also said 56% of respondents restricted the amount of fluid they drank before going out*

      Ignoring the health impact of dehydration, worth noting that this paradoxically makes continence *worse* than drinking normally.

    4. finniruse on

      I was in Notting Hill over the weekend. Every pub had a doorman to stop people using a toilet. Eventually I found one but with the amount of people there, you’d think they’d have a better solution.

    5. Jensablefur on

      The lack of public toilets in the UK is genuinely shocking.

      Honestly it’s essentially a form of ableism at this point.

    6. flings_flans on

      To have greater access to the public toilets in my town, there’d have to be some actual ones.

      There’s one in the grounds of the park but it’s only open during the summer and then with limited hours.

      The local council have arrangements with a few shops and pubs you can use, but they have limited hours too and some entire days when they’re shut.

      They closed the main high street loo block, and the ones in the bus station.

      What is one to do? It seems hopeless. I carry a portable loo around with me in case needed, but even being discreet you still get funny looks. Not sure what is expected really.

    7. pajamakitten on

      Not helped by scrotes who feel the need to smash up any toilet they fin, causing councils to close them because they get fed up of repairing them every other week. There used to be some great ones near me but they are now permanently closed, with a council notice saying it is due to repeated antisocial behaviour. The last time it happened, everything was destroyed. The sinks were smashed, clogged and the taps left on. The toilet was smashed, had branches put into it, and somehow the door was blocked by the bars for disable people being ripped off the wall and covering the door (how they got out from the cubicle afterwards is beyond me). A great toilet by a playpark is now closed because people do not understand why people might rely on them.

    8. chronicnerv on

      You are not welcome in many places unless you have tender to barter with. No amount of idealism is going to change this fact and as inflation keeps rising more are going to find this out. Any nation that had its people at heart would be working on infrastructure to support a future. Our nation is focusing on expansion abroad and managed decline at home.

    9. callsignhotdog on

      I moved to a new council area this year and they actually have quite a few public toilets in key places and I’m genuinely shocked, its not even a particularly affluent Council.

    10. Economy_Seat_7250 on

      I was in NZ earlier this year and could not cope with the amount of pristine public toilets at seemingly every turn.

    11. ad3z10 on

      We should take inspiration from the Japanese on this one, I’ve never been to another country which felt designed for people with IBS.

    12. johnmk3 on

      I was thinking about this last week. We’re in holiday in Hong Kong and went to the little village my wife’s granny lives in (proper countryside china). There are three public toilets in the village

      I live in Ealing (zone 3 London) and we have public toilets in one of the shopping centres and I think that’s it…

    13. xmBQWugdxjaA on

      We really need some sort of digital bank payments app like Swish in Sweden or Bizum in Spain, etc. capable of quick payments for stuff like this.

      In Sweden you can just scan a QR code, instantly pay and enter.

      And this helps keep it clean and safe for everyone.

    14. Impressive-Bird-6085 on

      The collapse in the availability of public toilets – especially free public toilets – across most of the U.K. over the past few decades has been shocking. It is having a particular negative impact upon those with disabilities that especially affect mobility and cause incontinence.
      We need a renaissance in the ample provision of free, good, clean public toilets.

    15. west0ne on

      Maybe public toilets would have stayed open if the government hadn’t constantly pulled funding from local councils; it also doesn’t help that those that are open are regularly vandalised.

    16. pickindim_kmet on

      In my town they all disappeared, the only one is on land owned by a private company who were kind enough to offer free public toilets that are actually decent.

      In my nearest city, it’s just the shopping mall that has toilets.

      As someone who has some health issues where a toilet is needed at short notice, every outing is coordinated with available toilets in mind.

    17. FarroFarro on

      Funnily enough I find cities are the worst for this. A lot of little villages around me have public toilets, sometimes maintained by a community group.

    18. PugHoofGaming on

      As someone with a chronic illness that affects my bowel function, whenever I leave the house I have to have a plan of where the nearest toilets are on every part of my journey. Despite there being some helpful apps that point out nearest public toilets, it’s still not enough. For a supposed civilised nation, we do a piss-poor job (pun possibly intended) on providing easy access to basic needs like this.

      Austerity and the short-sightedness of multiple governments has a lot to answer for.