Why are there so few toilets anywhere?

[DominiqueBernard]

That is the thread. I need and want more toilets in public places.

Who are the men having sex with? Would women also be involved in that or are you just saying only gay men have sex in public toilets?
Men and women even teen girls and boys have been caught vandalising.
Im not even going into your ridiculous terrorist comment!

Our local loos have closed. I suspect they will sell the building off at some point. They’ve kept open the tourist toilets which make a profit. There are coffee shops etc but at £3 a latte it’s expensive and you’ll need the toilet again in an hour.

Its tough for the disabled as the public facility had disabled parking outside and was well used. There is a loo at the local Aldi which is free.

Our local loos have closed. I suspect they will sell the building off at some point. They’ve kept open the tourist toilets which make a profit. There are coffee shops etc but at £3 a latte it’s expensive and you’ll need the toilet again in an hour.

Its tough for the disabled as the public facility had disabled parking outside and was well used. There is a loo at the local Aldi which is free.

Which is why I always speak to the bar staff beforehand and offer money for the staff tip jar or a charity box.

Agree with you, but you need to get active campaigning in your community.

There should be a real campaign about this subject,

as currently the situation is "Pants".

@jasflowers local authorities are stretched way too thin. They're not sitting on pots of money.

Social Care funding from Central Government has been cut beyond belief in the last 10 years. Council Tax has not been able to match the deficit. That's why some LAs are going bankrupt.

When you've got a statutory duty to provide care services, and the demands for those services are going up, then toilets and potholes come a long way down the priority list

This was one of the notable difference between here and the US when I visited last year. There were toilets pretty regularly, even if it was just at a shop on side of road in middle of nowhere.

The ones in the national park were mostly compost toilets so no flush or running water but they did have hand sanitiser in every one I used.

Here I dread long journeys because of the large gaps between service stations on main routes or none at all on back routes.

Local councils have been closing them for years. I think only seaside locations seem to be keeping them so far IME.

However I am increasingly finding many places I'd expect to have toilets - like supermarkets, some cafe and libraries just don't.

Our local train station not a small one behind the barriers ie not open to those without tickets -you need to get a key to access and never seems to be staff around with key but other trains stations are fine still. You have to go on train go into centre and hope shopping centre loos are still open or hope we get back home soon.

Don't go to Ireland.
The people there have bladders of steel, and when they do eventually need to go, they don't mind nipping into a field.
Public toilets are mixed sex.
Place (wonderful in every other way) is a peeing nightmare.

I live in a small town that is meant to be "nice" but,yes,the public toilets keep being vandalised. No idea what amusement there is in doing so but here we are.

The toilet cubicle at our local beach is now a little shop selling teas and ice cream etc (with no loo). It feels weird to go there to get an ice cream knowing they used to be purpose built loos!

Yes, this. In October our council closed several public loos 'for the winter'. I doubt they will ever reopen. We are a seaside location, we need public loos and there are now none in our area. I know the council want to sell off the one nearest to us for housing - it is right by the beach.

We know from lockdown (when people were allowed to roam around outside but public loos were closed) what happens if there are no facilities. People who travelled here were weeing on open ground, you could tell by the stench which emanated.

@viques if you ask politely here, the answer is generally "no", even if you are asking for a child. Owners here are snotty about the "tea and pee brigade" who buy one drink in order to use a toilet, never mind letting a non-purchaser use it.

I'm not sure what posters are getting out of insisting that this problem doesn't exist. It absolutely does.

‘But we have record levels of Council Tax (way above inflation over the last 10 years) and Tory Austerity.’

FWIW, this is not just a British problem. When I lived in France ( until five years ago) the public loos were also either disgusting, trashed or both. The local ‘councils’ didn’t want to spend the money repairing them after two really nice brand new ones were wrecked within three years.

Yeah just what I want to do.....

Spend 3 quid on a coffee which will make me need to pee again in 30 minutes just so I can use a loo 🙄

Sadly they get abused by 'cottagers' or brown heads (even the blue light bulbs didn't do much to stop them). Even men wouldn't feel safe using them.

There's an app called Flush that maps them. All over the world too. Very useful when on holiday.

My comments were tongue in cheek, Austerity is a con that has cost the UK dear for zero gain and yes dead right the Govt has slashed council support grants inc in adult social care.

So where is the money???? £20bn recently given away in tax cuts thats where, designed to keep Govts in power.

We are a very stupid electorate.

The issues with sex drugs etc easily addressed by closing them at say 6pm or installing new chargeable ones.

I just politely explain I have a damaged bladder and desperately need to go. No pub or cafe has ever said no. I also have a "just can't wait" card - not legally binding, but can be handy to have. My uro nurse also gave me a radar key for disabled toilets

A former public toilet block near me is now a wine bar. I’m not even joking.

It’s called WC, standing for Wine and Charcuterie, so at least the owners have a sense of humour about it

There is another one near Aldwych in central London that’s been converted into a cocktail bar

I was wondering about this as I was driving home from out in the country and desperately needed the loo and no petrol stations I went to had a public toilet. So I drove through a couple of towns and there were no public loos available in them either. Unless I went into a pub or McDonald's.

I ended up having a wee in the bushes by a lay-by which resulted in a stinging nettle sore on my bum!

I'd happily pay a small charge for regularly cleaned council facilities.

In most of Europe there is a fee payable, but there appears to be more available.

I’d also happily pay. Thankfully parks seem to still have them, all the ones near me they are opened/closed by the cafes.

The central grants to councils have been slashed by the Tories and councils have limits on how much h they can raise council tax by.