Your dream public loo?

[Onand]

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?

More Changing places! Although my city had quite a few of them. Not everywhere does.

I hate those ones in service stations where you have to lift and shut the lids. I do t want to touch anything!

Clean, good extraction / ventilation and not smelly, wide enough cubicle that I don't touch the sanitary bin when sitting, a hook, loo seat that fits, and covers the rim and isn't sliding sideways when you sit on it. Room for a child to be in the cubicle too and for the door to open and close easily. Seat sanitiser spray stuff. Sensor taps. Doors that open outward when you leave so you don't need to touch anything!

Really ideal for me is enclosed and sound proof so I can poo in peace without being embarrassed.

The ones in France that wash themselves after each use are great, I like them, but did find out they only lock for a set time period (I think probably to stop people sleeping in them or having a medical episode and getting trapped) so a button reachable from the loo to relock them if you're taking longer than 'normal' would be a good addition to those.

This but also dry! I don't want to paddle my way to the toilet through a wet floor strewn with looroll because someone else has tried to dry it.

Oh, and when I rule the world, any hoverers who drip urine on the seat will be shot at dawn. (Disabilities excepted).

Get rid of my pet hates for a start. We'll assume cleanliness as a default, as nobody's ideal toilet is smelly and manky. So none of those flush buttons that you have to push into the wall. My fingers are too feeble to operate those reliably. And easily accessible toilet paper. I suppose not so accessible that people can run away with it though.
Decent, well-equipped Changing Places loos for those who need them. And a toilet in the baby change unit.

my ideal would be free to enter as I never have change for the paid ones. Clean, dry, with plenty of cubicles and good lighting. Sensors for the flush, sink and soap dispenser so I hardly have to touch anything. Hand wash that foams as you wash, rather than the already foamy stuff. Warm water. Paper towel dispenser to dry hands as I hate using any kind of hand dryer.

Oh and baby changing units in men's and women's!! My local Sainsburys baby changing unit give you no option but to change your baby with their bum facing the entrance door. I know they're only babies but I hate that people walk in see that. You cant face them the other way as the sinks are in the way of you standing there 😖

Hook on back of door for bag or coat

A lock that my toddler can't reach

A hand drier that's not as lousy as a nuclear reactor

A child seat that you can pop them in the wall like they have in IKEA

A changing table that doesn't feel like an accident waiting to happen, with a single use paper (environment) roll that you can use as a cover. SOMETHING (anything!) on the bloody ceiling above the table to occupy a wriggling baby - mirror, picture, lights. I don't know why this isn't done in more parent orientated places

Oh and finally wet room style build. So it can be entirely jetwashed regularly to ensure cleanliness. Because people are grim

@Allthebears I too am massively claustrophobic and detest internal locks- Bolts are much better-
Sometimes I can’t bear to lock them so just La La and make noise if I hear someone outside the door.

Large cubicles with easy access loo roll and hand sensor sinks and an outward opening door that you can open with a foot

People not washing their hands make door handles unhygienic.

At a. Local garden there is a set of temporary toilets made by a company called thrones they are very well designed and very clean.

I often think they are bad as they are often the only loos left open. I travel for work and many of the public loos have shut down. Cafes you really need to buy stuff and don’t necessarily have the time or easy parking. I often end up nipping to Tesco in various towns as they will have parking, can whizz in and out grabbing a meal deal in minutes.

In a local town the public toilets closed last year and the Aldi toilets are now always vile. They were fine before but they now have an extra few hundred people a day popping in to use the facilities which are just three toilets. Obviously it’d be nice if people tidied up after themselves but some people just won’t.

Unlike you, OP, my perfect public toilet includes paper towels as I think dryers blow germs all over your hands with the warm air.

Our local 'spoons is great! Really clean, lovely decor (quite decadent! All gold leaf style touches and opulent burgundy/gold wallpaper), several lovely sofas and chaise longues in the middle so you can wait for your mates in comfort or just pop in for a private chat, soft lighting (particularly flattering around the mirrors), nice soap and hand cream, background music...

Apparently the men's are just bog standard (though clean at least!) - H was very put out when he heard about the ladies' 😅

I'm a frequent service station user. Dh often jokes that I visit so many I should start ranking them Four In A Bed style and I definitely do have favourites.

For me:
Hook for bag on the door.
Well stocked loo roll in an uncomplicated dispenser.
No stench like you often get in supermarket loos.
Background music is lovely but a luxury I don't expect.
Sensory flush.
Sinks should be as clean and dry as possible.
Both hand dryers and hand towels/bin available for those in a rush.
Not overly bright.
Lots of them! I hate toilets with only one or two cubicles, feel much better and more anonymous in a massive row of them.

I hate grotty public toilets. Nice, bright. clean ones are okay
In the majority of public toilets but especially the less salubrious ones i use tissues to shut and open the door and to touch the flush before thoroughly washing my hands. I wish all outer toilet doors were automatically opening or better, had no main door at all. I hate washing my hands and then opening a door potentially touched by dirty, unwashed hands 🤮 I once stayed in a hotel with lovely clean toilets within the hotel. Some of the doors had a device fitted to the handle so that when you opened the outer door the handle automatically dispensed hand sanitiser onto your hands.

Deffo wider cubicles. If you have a number of bags or even kids with you it is hard. With my bags I find myself climbing over the toilet! Went to a public one in a hospital, found out too late no loo roll!. Deffo hooks as some floors are unspeakable. Unfortunately I am a slave to my bladder. When I have to go, I HAVE to go!

Things I hate about public loos:

• Shared male/female (often disgusting with wee all over the seat and floor. Skid marks as well 🤢)

• No seat cover meaning poo and wee particles have travelled around the cubicle.

• partitions that aren't floor to ceiling and short doors.

• Flushing systems you have to physically touch

• The McWash systems- I want you to be able to control the soap and water.
• Feeble dryers that don't dry and you have to wipe your hands on your trousers or a tissue if you have one.

• Door handles meaning you have to wrap your sleeve around your hand to exit.

• Not enough female toilets

Actually can I add decent baby change facilities in the gents?

The default should not be the female loos.

Plenty of them so there isn't a queue. A degree of anonymity is nice in these circumstances, so the more cubicles, the better. Clean, obvs, but also:

Dry floors! I loathe water (or worse) on floors.

Handwash that works
Taps that work and don't scald me
Dryers
Sensible access for disabled users/parents of young children

I can’t use public toilets and haven’t used toilets at work since Covid! Developed major over attending to germs & bacteria when Covid hit and it’s never left me.

To have at least two large unisex cubicle s that are not also the baby change and ideally not the disabled wheelchair loo with a higher seat - disabled dsd but not wheelchair bound and she can takes she's, talking 15 minutes or more and needs assistance

Someone employed to wipe piss off the floor and wipe the seats and handles with Dettol wipes

As long as there is one open when you need it, all else is secondary!

Decent lighting over mirrors, preferably with a magnifying section.