People are sharing online the codes that will give acess to toilets across London!

100 years or so ago in London the women's public toilets were in train stations.
Now in London they are putting up urination stations on the streets as a substitute for public toilets.
If things continue as they are now moving there will be no public toilets for women in London. Not even in a train station.

Be aware of the tube toilet map - very handy for those travelling in London. content.tfl.gov.uk/toilets-map.pdf

If you're at a station with no loo, most station staff will be able to tell you where to find the nearest.

As someone who has a medical condition, which means I carefully plan every journey, I really wish there were more public loos. I have found London pretty good, plenty of large shops, libraries and museums, plus pubs, but locally it can be an absolute nightmare.

I feel uneasy about that. I don’t see why private companies should be expected to become free public conveniences because councils don’t provide enough.

Some London Boroughs have a “Community Toilet Scheme” where businesses get paid to allow members of the public access to the toilets during their opening hours without having to make a purchase. Near me it is a good scheme and works well.

I know I am not forced to use Starbucks etc but I have no choice as I have to wait for my DC while they are at clubs across town and the chains have squeezed out all the independent coffee bars - so yes, I have no choice, unless I go to the pub. Plus they have hoovered up all the concessions at my college.

We need more public toilets but they need to be clean, safe and well managed.

People (ab)using facilities in restaurants isn't the answer.

It never occurred to me to use McDs as a free toilet

You can’t actually go in to mcdonalds with children and not buy something...it blows their little minds

Didn’t mean to type that first question mark.

We need to have more public loos? Where are homeless people supposed to go to the toilet? They need them more than anyone as they can’t just go home for a wee.
Maybe these businesses who are fed up should put more pressure on councils. They have more clout after all.

I resent the 3 quid for shitty coffee at Star-Costa-Nero, and think each time I do it they owe me at least 5 loo visits

What a silly comment- no one is forcing you to use them.

just wanted to say that in my experience the reason toilet became customers only or introduced codes on the door is because people regularly (obviously not all) take the piss and leave it in a horrible state

I get the impression from some of the posts on here that that may well be the attitude of some of the free users- "I'm not paying- I'll do what I want"

We went to a mickey d’s and you needed a code for the bogs

Oh man, that was THE safety net for emergency toileting.

It still is- just buy a coffee and a donut. It never occurred to me to use McDs as a free toilet.

I just wanted to say that in my experience the reason toilet became customers only or introduced codes on the door is because people regularly (obviously not all) take the piss and leave it in a horrible state.

When I worked in KFC years ago some of the most disgusting states it was left in! There was the bog standard extreme mess but also Addicts and sometimes even sex workers using it leaving behind condoms (or worse if they didn't use one the body fluids from the encounter everywhere!) or drug kit like needles etc

All I'm saying is while I feel everyone should have access to a toilet (I say that as someone with a bowel issue) it's not that simple for the establishment who owns said toilet or the poor staff who at the end of a long shift then have to tackle it!

We went to a mickey d’s and you needed a code for the bogs

Oh man, that was THE safety net for emergency toileting.

If councils don't want to spend the cash on maintaining public loos, why not consider outsourcing them like how WH Smith partnered up with the PO office? Businesses get money and footfall, and the council gets a service at a discount.

Now the homelessness problem has been unaddressed for so long that many businesses not only lock the toilets but hire security.

Agreed.

When I travel for business, in cities with a very obvious homelessness problem, there's now a yellow-gileted security guard who asks you for your name and other details to run against the 'checked-in' list before allowing you further into the hotel. (I wouldn't fancy being checked in by them but suppose that that is what must happen after 18:00.)

Excellent initiative. Yes we need to campaign for more public looks, but in this hyper orivatised city where public space has been chipped away and stolen, I say, more power to you. I resent the 3 quid for shitty coffee at Star-Costa-Nero, and think each time I do it they owe me at least 5 loo visits.

Is this a London thing? It’s not an issue we have in the Northern wilderness. In my town centre there’s public loos a plenty or you can discretely use the loos at one of the big chains.
As a business owner I’d be pretty miffed if Joe Public was just using my loos. It’s one thing letting a parent with small children, pregnant women or people with disabilities use it as a non-customer in an emergency, that’s just basic good manners but having everyone else come in whilst I pay for the cleaning and restocking of loo roll etc is not on.

In the 1950s pay toilets instead of attendants were the latest thing in department stores. They only lasted about 15 years before they were decommissioned.
Now the homelessness problem has been unaddressed for so long that many businesses not only lock the toilets but hire security.

Also, although it maybe that no everyone in London remembers this but when Ken Livingstone (I think) was mayor most pubs, cafes and shops were asked to sign up to making their facilities open to anyone who neeeded them. You used to see signs on the door

There's a bit of a difference between a business voluntarily signing up and being targeted by this campaign.

As for a toilet tax, I think paying customers should put up much more of a fuss if they pay the eat in price and then cant get a seat because all the people who lied about taking out their foor are sitting with all their bits of carboard all over the tables

It is not a toilet tax. I can't say I've ever seen this problem.

There are codes?

For toilets?

Since when?

When I was in Paris, I tried to use the McD loo but it was 50c.

As I posted on my Facebook page at the time - I tried to have a McWee, but ended up having to have a rapper-pee.

My best friend has a condition that means she often needs access to a loo. There's a card that you can apply for (through your doctor I believe), that when shown means that any shops/cafes etc will let you use facilities. No need to sneakily share codes, the provision has been made.

I can't access one, because I don't need it. If I had a condition that meant I needed it, I could access one. If I need a wee, I have to buy something in the bloody cafe. That's how life works.

This whole thing is ridiculous.

@74NewStreet why don't you try a day in my shoes. I don't fucking enjoy it but it happens regularly

Fast food restaurants here have always welcomed people to use their toilets without requiring a purchase.

Not where I live or work. As PPs mention the McDs or similar all have a code which you can only request with a purchase.

There must be substantial variation throughout the UK.

I'd far rather that that were adequate, sufficient, and decent public facilities - both Rose George and Clara Greed are excellent on this topic.

What an absolute charmer