Revolting public toilets

[beeonmybonnett]

AIBU to think that councils should at least be bothered to properly clean and sanitise public toilet facilities?

Just been out in town and had to use the facilities - omg stinking! I knew from the minute I walked in the door that they were going to be untidy and unpleasant.

dirty floors, soap dispenser not working, horrendous and dirty toilet cubicles and it was just disgusting! It makes my skin crawl but I had to go.

Why can’t councils be bothered to clean these places ? It was vile.

At least they had them, and they were open.

I can't think of the location of any council public toilets in the city closest to where I live. There are some in the shopping centre, which presumably are maintained by the shopping centre management company, and they're okay. Failing that there are toilets in M and S/department stores.

Are there no other options? (I agree with you btw)

It's not a case of them 'not being bothered', it's a case of them having a limited budget and spending it more essential things than a fragrant-smelling bog.

In an ideal world I'd obviously love public loos to be cleaned all the time so we all had plenty of pristine facilities, but there are definitely better ways to spend a council budget at the moment.

Ours are well stocked but they're rarely clean as they're right on the beach so they immediately end up full of sand.

This.

Sometimes it’s the people that use them. I know the ones in our park are old but cleaned properly when they open them every morning and by mid afternoon they’re grim as fuck to the point where I’ve stopped taking the potty training toddler there post midday.

We recently went to the Lizard peninsula and both toilets had jobbies actually on the seats. Who are these people that look normal, but are deviants in public toilets?

It's not a case of them 'not being bothered', it's a case of them having a limited budget and spending it more essential things than a fragrant-smelling bog

I disagree - they do have the money but choose to spend it on other things. It's a question of priorities. You would have thought that clean and available loos came under their healthcare obligations.

They had no trouble paying staff to tape off childrens' play areas during covid.

Councils across the country are facing massive funding cuts from central government, whilst demand for services especially social care keep on increasing - reductions in service have to be made. No one likes dirty toilets and councils certainly don't like providing them - it doesn't make visiting public places attractive and that impacts on health and the local economy. Perhaps if central government funded councils better we wouldn't see the erosion of those universal services we have right to expect.

Why do people leave toilets in this state? I've often been somewhere like a restaurant where everyone looks perfectly polite and civilised, but the toilets are left in a disgraceful condition. Presumably by some of the aforesaid people, who probably wouldn't dream of leaving their own bathroom like that.

The last NT toilets I went in were stomach churningly smelly

Could they have been camper van owners carelessly emptying chemical toilets? It's unacceptable obviously but might explain it otherwise it seems deliberate.