To be cross at Costa coffee not letting me go to the loo?

[Treatedlikeamaid]

I think of all the money I’ve spent in Costa and just now I nipped into a branch, it was empty. I asked if I could use the loo and the young man serving told me not if I wasn’t going to buy anything. I mean..it was empty! I’ve spent 100s in there over the years. ! I’m a lady of a certain age when we need the loo, we need the loo! I’m irrationally angry and then got all embarrassed and tearful. Not pleasant at all. It wouldn’t have cost Costa anything to show a bit of consideration. Humph!

You will probably be surprised to learn about the Community Toilet scheme.

It extends across the country. Councils pay shops in the scheme a subsidy. In our area Costa is in the scheme. It would be surprising if this is just a one off as they are a chain .. but perhaps they are a franchise. ? and therefore different in every area.

Check out your local councils community toilet scheme. They cannot deny you free access in business hours because they are paid to do so.

This is the link for my area . Your local authority will have the same. Check it out and make sure you know your local shops in the scheme so you can challenge them if refused. (And report back to the council )

www.wealden.gov.uk/community-and-safety/public-conveniences-in-wealden/toilets-in-wealden/

Sorry Treatedlikeamaid forgot to tag you with that info.

@Bailey0703

You will probably be surprised to learn about the Community Toilet scheme.

It extends across the country. Councils pay shops in the scheme a subsidy. In our area Costa is in the scheme. It would be surprising if this is just a one off as they are a chain .. but perhaps they are a franchise. ? and therefore different in every area.

Check out your local councils community toilet scheme. They cannot deny you free access in business hours because they are paid to do so.

This is the link for my area . Your local authority will have the same. Check it out and make sure you know your local shops in the scheme so you can challenge them if refused. (And report back to the council )

www.wealden.gov.uk/community-and-safety/public-conveniences-in-wealden/toilets-in-wealden/

I think I mentioned this somewhere up the thread...

OP's issue is why can't she as a valued customer of Costa use their toilet for free?!

oh and without asking...

@LindaEllen

Sorry but you don't have a right to use a toilet just because there happens to be one in a property. That's like knocking on someone's door and asking could you use it. Would you do that? You'd be welcome to if you were using their property as a place to visit as a guest, but you're not. Same with Costa.

Alright, there are lots of places that have loos that you can use (your best bets are supermarkets, shopping centres and department stores, by the way), but the last thing the staff want at the moment is people going in, as they have to clean the facilities more often anyway, when they're not even going to buy anything.

I have anxiety which leads to me needing the loo a lot, and even I don't see that I have the right to use any loo I fancy. I make sure there are public loos where I'm going.

Totally agreed with you - I just use M&S, department stores - who are always fine about this, or shopping centres.

I have partly age related toilet issues (thanks perimenopause!) but no way am I going to barge in somewhere and demand to use their loos and I try to plan my trips out so I know where loos are.

@Treatedlikeamaid

I think I’m just not a fan of impersonal chains pretending to be friendly through their advertising yet not being really

How ridiculous. They're friendly because they want customers, not people who think they can take their services for free. Surely you must have grasped this? Otherwise they'd be giving away coffee, cake, and seating for nothing. 'Friendly' is what you pay for, just like coffee. If you're sponging their services, you're lucky to get 'respectful'.

@Bailey0703

You will probably be surprised to learn about the Community Toilet scheme.

It extends across the country. Councils pay shops in the scheme a subsidy. In our area Costa is in the scheme. It would be surprising if this is just a one off as they are a chain .. but perhaps they are a franchise. ? and therefore different in every area.

Check out your local councils community toilet scheme. They cannot deny you free access in business hours because they are paid to do so.

This is the link for my area . Your local authority will have the same. Check it out and make sure you know your local shops in the scheme so you can challenge them if refused. (And report back to the council )

www.wealden.gov.uk/community-and-safety/public-conveniences-in-wealden/toilets-in-wealden/

So I wasn't crazy when I said councils should pay them if they want to provide this service😁 Nice. That's good. If they are in it and get some funding towards the extra use, cleaning and training, that's fair enough.

Costa offers franchise, like subway or even maccies do, but I think this is only there because it doesn't seem to be done by all councils.