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Your dream public loo?

57 replies

Onand · 02/09/2024 12:28

Lighthearted but actually something that affects many of us…If you have to use public toilets in shops and motorway services, I’m intrigued what your ideal facilities set up is so you feel ok using them, obviously being clean is a top priority but there’s some things I hate that make them feel even more disgusting than they should be.

My perfect loos are good width cubicles, a decent toilet seat which is clean and dry, loo roll either in the individual sheets or a full roll that means I don’t have to poke around under the dispenser. Sensor flush, a sliding door lock and a door far enough from the loo that you don’t risk touching either and you open and close it. A decent gap between the cubicle and ceiling to allow good air flow. Some background music. For the sinks I like automatic taps that run for at least 8 seconds with warm water (not scalding or freezing), Foam hand wash. Hand dryer’s that you don’t need to put your hands in to (M&S ones are horrendous that splash you every time). No green or blue paper towels.

My hates are door handles to enter and exit, handle flushers and the flat button ones, cold tap water that auto turn off after 2 seconds, tiny cubicles, Mitsubishi hand dryers. That loo roll which curls round into a knotty mess as you get it. Taps with knobs or buttons to touch.

🤣 anyone as daft as me?

OP posts:
TheClawDecides · 02/09/2024 12:29

This is such a weird thread to start but I love it! 🤣

Why don't you travel up and down the country, and publish a 'Good toilets guide'?

Or does such a thing already exist? 🤔

Needmorelego · 02/09/2024 12:31

Just more of them please.

shellyleppard · 02/09/2024 12:33

@TheClawDecides the UK guide to public toilets!!! Definitely need it, how would the rating guide work though?? ,🤔🤔🤣

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shellyleppard · 02/09/2024 12:35

A decent height for the toilet, no wonky toilet seats and plenty of toilet paper!!!

Sethera · 02/09/2024 12:36

TheClawDecides · 02/09/2024 12:29

This is such a weird thread to start but I love it! 🤣

Why don't you travel up and down the country, and publish a 'Good toilets guide'?

Or does such a thing already exist? 🤔

There is a loo of the year award - Wetherspoons often do well in it!

StarSlinger · 02/09/2024 12:38

I just want there to be more of them and for them to be clean. Not bothered about any fancy stuff.

Onand · 02/09/2024 12:39

Its really weird but every time I enter a public loo I do the mental checklist, automatic flushers, taps and foam hand wash score highly every time, but often the hand drier lets them down if it’s too slow and hot, fast and cold, too loud, a hand dipper etc. A spritzing air freshener on a sensor scores well too.

Supermarket loos are often diabolically bad, like absolutely terrible.

OP posts:
DancingPhantomsOnTheTerrace · 02/09/2024 12:42

At the shopping centre near me, the cubicles (of which there are more than enough) are very deep. So you can really easily get a pram into the cubicle, get round it, and shut the door. And there's still plenty of space to use the toilet. Much better when you're with a pram.

Even when you're not with a pram I hate those cubicles where you have to squeeze yourself up against the loo to shut the door, or you struggle if you have shopping bags.

The other thing I like is some sinks that are low down. Means my 5 year old can wash her hands more easily.

comeondover · 02/09/2024 12:43

I want loo seats that fit properly ie not smaller than the rim of the bowl or a different shape, also that doesn't slide when you sit on it.

Also, sometimes the dryers are actually mouldy around the grille, so not that please.

Getorganised · 02/09/2024 12:45

i detest public toilets I have to use my elbows to open doors and do the locks and flush with my foot

Lavender14 · 02/09/2024 12:46

I prefer no gaps and a fully contained room rather than a cubicle. I also appreciate free sanitary products, nice smelling hand soap and a decent sized and height of mirror. Love it when there is a high up sink for me as a very tall person and a low down sink for accessibility or ds to wash his hands. Decent toilet roll is important and a nice air freshener. I also don't like an over eager automatic flush and I like the lights to turn off when you're leaving but not before! I like a hook to hang my coat/handbag so it doesn't need to sit on the floor.

LightDrizzle · 02/09/2024 12:48

All yours but like @Lavender14 I want a long strong hook to hang any bags or coat.

betterangels · 02/09/2024 12:48

Clean with intact seat. Paper and soap.

FadedRed · 02/09/2024 12:49
  1. Open
  2. Clean
  3. Toilet paper
  4. Clean
  5. Paper hand towels
  6. Clean
  7. Human adult sized cubical (don’t want my arse cheek resting on the sanitary bin.
  8. Clean
  9. Touchfree flushing, washbasin taps and bins
  10. Clean
  11. No jet-engine decibel-rated hand dryers
  12. Good fresh air circulation
  13. Clean
  14. No queues
  15. Clean
  16. Sufficient large cubical for baby change/people with disabilities/adult special needs access.
  17. Clean
  18. Hanger for bags/coats
Singleandproud · 02/09/2024 12:50

No hand dryers, DD (autistic) won't use public loos with them and they are massively unhygienic blowing ambient toilet air and poo particles back on your moist warm hands.

Clean

Spacious
Decent size cubicles

I no longer need them but parent and child sized toilets together, lock higher than child height, larger ones that you can take a buggy in with you or have the handy baby seat that I only ever saw once in a SeaLife centre

Bjorkdidit · 02/09/2024 12:54

StarSlinger · 02/09/2024 12:38

I just want there to be more of them and for them to be clean. Not bothered about any fancy stuff.

Same here.

Although it does baffle me that, even in nice shops or places like Iceland (the country not the supermarket) where you expect toilets to be tidy and well maintained, they're trashed with broken door locks, wobbly seats and puddles everywhere.

In Iceland, there's no litter, seems to be a decently run country, but the toilets in the airport were still flooded with paper everywhere and half the door locks broken.

Meditationgame · 02/09/2024 12:54

As a pp said, that the toilet is a decent height (not these really low ones in some areas), the cubicle a decent width, touch free everything, sanitary bins emptied regularly, soap dispensers filled, hand driers swapped for paper towels, open windows, somewhere to put bags, hangers on the back of the doors, lots and lots of them, split by sex with a 3rd free for all option that isn't the disabled loo.

Baby changing removed from the disabled toilets and the bins emptied several times a day.

Allthebears · 02/09/2024 12:54

I'm claustrophobic so I'm very particular about door locks - I hate those ones with an 'internal' mechanism, that you can't see. I need to have a proper sliding bolt or one of those flip-over bars, or I won't be able to lock the door without panicking that I'll be somehow locked in! (irrational I know, but aren't all phobias).
For the same reason I also like to have decent gaps around the top and bottom, not completely enclosed and coffin-like.
Agree on the other things like annoying two-second taps the often empty hand wash dispensers!

SomethingAboutNothing · 02/09/2024 12:56

Wide enough that there is actually space for the sanitary bin and it isn't wedged next to the toilet. So grim.

ThatsNotMyTeen · 02/09/2024 12:58

Not the kind that flushes as soon as you lean back on it giving your bum a spray in cold water!

InTheWindow · 02/09/2024 13:01

Decent sized cubicles, parent and child cubicles. Sinks in all cubicles. Several hooks in all cubicles, including ones at child height (this applies to campsite showers too! My daughter can shower by herself but she needs to hang her things up) Sanitary disposal units not squeezed in so you are touching them. Sinks planned so the taps are far enough over a deep sink and don’t splash everywhere. Soap dispensers within easy reach of every sink. Automatic flush, taps, soap. Hand dryers low enough that I can keep my arms horizontal and not get drips up my arms, preferably paper towels. Mirrors away from sinks to do hair/makeup. Soap that doesn’t damage skin.

Child height toilets and sinks, both for very small children and slightly older.

InTheWindow · 02/09/2024 13:03

Oh and baby changing tables should not be in public areas, need a private cubicle. More ‘changing spaces’ loos too.

AgnesX · 02/09/2024 13:05

I look back fondly at loos with an attendant (thinking of Glasgow Central way back in the day) so clean with hot water, loo paper and something decent to try your hands with.

Really amazes me how filthy some women are (really, you can't blame men) for peeing on seats and floors, smearing menstrual blood around and not flushing.

These days I'll settle for wheelchair accessible, decent quality loo paper, a working flush, hot water, hand cleanser and a hand dryer at seat height. Preferably that I don't have to share with stinky nappy bins.

username44416 · 02/09/2024 13:06

Large and clean.
Good sized cubicles
Nice quality toilet paper
Good quality lighting
Molten Brown hand wash and moisturiser
No hand dryers
Individual clean towels to wipe my hands
Soft water
No handles on anything
Well aired with a subtle quality fragrance

BigDahliaFan · 02/09/2024 13:06

There's one on a walk I often do that I really like just because it's perfectly placed on a beach car park just where you'd want a wee on the walk, the local council look after it beautifully even though it is very basic. And there are often fresh flowers in it.

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