Writing to restaurants and cafes with single-sex loos - anyone want to join me?

Yes I'll join you. I always make a mental note of the state of the loos when I visit a restaurant and mention it in my Tripadvisor review. I'm afraid that unless men sit to urinate the areas they use will be sticky and stinky. I don't mind if it is a small cafe with only very limited facilities but anywhere else should cater properly for women and have clean and appropriate toilets for them.

As long as toilets are clean and don’t smell I will use them

I have been to ladies toilets that are so bad I’ve had to hold it until I am home

Saying that, more often than not it’s the loos that are shared with men that smell the worst

I do not care if I am on my period and use a unisex loo.
If anyone had a problem with that it would be the men and they can then campaign to have single sex loos if it really bothers them that I’ve bled in the toilet bowl they are about to pee in

Yes, Gloucester services are great!

Hi DevonHoliday, Thank you for your concern. Luckily most accessible toilets are not ones tha
t need radar keys, and they nearly always have a lock (like a put down latch) on the inside, but that can be opened from the outside in an emergency, by the "rescuer" using something like a penny in a little catch made for exactly that purpose. Hopefully it would be enough to put someone nasty off trying to break into the toilet, whilst still being quite quick for a person going to someone's aid. The worst thing about people using radar keys (me included when I forget to check) is like I said, you just put your key in the lock, and the door opens immediately. So even it it is someone nice, it is really embarrassing to have someone come in at a very awkward time!
Hello SerendipityJane, I can assure you that both my DH and I are reasonably intelligent people, and we would notice if there was a secondary lock on the door - which incidently the radar key people would not be happy about.
My DH and I travel quite a bit around the country (well we did before this blasted virus), and it is a very long time since we came across a radar key toilet that also had a secondary bolt or other type of lock on it. In fact if I did come across one like that I would make a complaint, as the outside "slot" for use with a penny or something, could not unlock a secondary lock, and the whole point of radar keys is to give access only to disabled people, whilst still making it relatively easy to get to someone who is in difficulty in the toilet.
I could give a long list of negatives for accessible toilets, but instead I will just say that the Gloucester Service ones on the M5 are very good, and the children's/family rooms there are very good too - one of them has a large toilet for adults and a smaller one for children in the same room, my Granddaughter really enjoyed doing a wee at the same time as me! I know that those services have at least two others around the country, one near the North of the Lakedistrict. I can't remember their name, but I think it has farmshop in it, and they have living roofs, and are nicely lamdscaped - they are almost destination services

Thanks for clarifying.

I've done a lot of work with the less able (as well as my own personal circumstances) and toilets are a hobby horse of mine. That's why it's a little bit tiresome to see all the hard work of the past 3 decades undone so quickly. Something people enjoying their equal rights as women should bear in mind.

Just as a guess the same as conventional toilet doors - i.e. a plastic screw mechanism that you can turn with a coin from the outside? Caveat - I've not checked recently to see if this is still the case.

However all the disabled loos I've seen with a radar key have an additional lock inside so they can't just be opened by another radar key when occupied. It's integral to the radar mechanism.

What happens if a disabled person is unwell or having difficulties, and pulls the red cord for assistance? How do staff get inside to help?

However all the disabled loos I've seen with a radar key have an additional lock inside so they can't just be opened by another radar key when occupied. It's integral to the radar mechanism.

Might want to double check that ?

Please don’t just boycott restaurants and cafes on unisex toilet provision. The hospitality industry is in dire straits

But why wouldn't I choose to go somewhere with appropriate toilet facilities over somewhere where I may or will feel uncomfortable going to the toilet?

Most disabled provisions are unisex and acceptable.

Until they have the "gender neutral" label plonked on them.

men pose a risk to women. Irrespective of how they say they identify.

Simple and true, backed by masses of evidence. Given the endless flood of denials and obfuscation, this can’t be repeated often enough.

I really have no time for this sort of nonsense about periods and women continuing to perpetuate it.

Dido, I’m glad it doesn’t bother you. But it bothers a lot of women and especially girls. And a lot of men enjoy embarrassing or intimidating women. We have a right to privacy on our own terms.

Restaurant-owners have the right to provide the minimum required by law. We have the right to tell them we’ll choose to eat in places that make better provision for their female customers.

That diagram related to para 4.10? Not para 4.15?

(But then, what if user becomes unwell? Solution needed though).

Just to add to my pp about accessable toilets, luckily I always have my husband with me, but I hate the ones opened via a radar key, as when another user comes along and opens it with a radar key, it just opens! So my poor husband has to stand holding the handle (when he is not helping me). It is totally unacceptable, will you start a campaign about them too please OP?

Yes - or - so the handwashing can be “in an adjacent room”

Please don’t just boycott restaurants and cafes on unisex toilet provision. The hospitality industry is in dire straits.

Most disabled provisions are unisex and acceptable.

Having worked on planning in this area space is a big consideration. If providing separate single sex and accessible toilets means loosing vital trading space a business may become unviable.

Many establishments provide proper unisex facilities in a safe environment. Small cafes often only have a single toilet which is unisex / family friendly / baby-changing / accessible.

Even some larger restaurant chains have implemented unisex and they are safe, provide privacy and dignity but are necessary due to space and planning restrictions.

Noneformethanks There is no such thing as a 'unisex' toilet and thats why they are not described in the document. They are single sex or single use.

page 30;
4.15 A sanitary convenience may be provided in:
a. a self-contained room which also contains hand washing facilities;
b. in a cubicle with shared hand washing facilities located in a room containing a number of cubicles; or
c. in a self-contained room with hand washing facilities provided in an adjacent room.

I do NOT know where some of you are taking a piss

I understand that nightclub toilets for example might be dirty due to Drunkards

But I can’t recall many incidences of dirty toilets outside of that Environment

I must just be going to nice bogs

[quote ItsLateHumpty]Can someone link me the legislation that says that unisex toilets have to have the sink in the stall space and that a shared sink is illegal please.

OneEpisode posted this earlier

Search your local authority. Nationwide links are in here womansplaceuk.org/toilets/

Having followed that link myself, and reading the page womansplaceuk.org/2020/02/27/mixed-sex-toilets-model-letter/
there are different laws for eg schools, or local authorities.

But if you read the template / model letter it’s pretty comprehensive and outlines the relevant legislation for most circumstances.
womansplaceuk.org/2020/02/27/mixed-sex-toilets-model-letter/

For eg Public Authorities, the letter recommends this:

“The desegregation of toilets may be in contravention of government guidance, given within the British Standards (British Standard, BS 6465 Part One on Sanitary installations) and the related Building Regulations which sets out the levels of male/female toilet provision required. The linked Building Regulation Part G on water and sanitation provides the basis for the application of these British Standards (DCLG, 2016).“

The linked Building Regulation quoted above is here and is 55 pages. I have scanned it. See G4 and G5 starting on page 28

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/504207/BR_PDF_AD_G_2015_with_2016_amendments.pdf[/quote]
But that says may, not is? So it must be place specific?

That guidance doesn’t say that if they are unisex they MUST be all in one room it says the loos must be separate but the hand washing can be “adjacent to”.

If a loo is dirty, for whatever reason, then report it. That's the only way any venue will take action. If enough people report it, then they'll need to increase/improve cleaning regime.

It's not right for other (cleaner) men to have to put up with dirty loos, and surprise, surprise, some women can be mingers and leave a mess too!

I support you OP. I’ve had some horrible experiences recently, one in a nightclub and one in a cafe where I’ve ended up in a secluded part of a building in a dead ended space with blokes pissing with cubicle doors open . Hate it