Mumsnet users share their experiences of public loos with Domestos

[EllieMumsnet]

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Trying to find a loo when you’re out and about with your kids can be challenging. How many times have you asked if your DCs need to go before you leave the house and then they are demanding a toilet not even five minutes into your outing? We’ve all been there! Which is why at Domestos we want to know about your experience of public loos.

How often do you need to locate a loo when you’re out with your family? And how difficult are they to find? How do you feel when you have to go in and ask staff to use the loo in a pub? Or a café you weren’t planning on buying a coffee from? Or do you even ask? Are you ever met with resistance from staff when you ask to use their loo? What would you change to make this experience easier?

Here’s what Domestos have to say: “Domestos believe everyone deserve access to a clean, safe toilet. In the UK the problem is locating a public toilet when we’re out and about, in other countries the problem is far more serious. Domestos is committed to providing solutions, and have an ambition to help 25 million people around the world get cleaner, safer toilets by 2020.”

Whatever your experience is with public loos, post them on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

How often do you need to locate a loo when you’re out with your family? every time we go out. And how difficult are they to find? Not usually that difficult where I am How do you feel when you have to go in and ask staff to use the loo in a pub? Or a café you weren’t planning on buying a coffee from? Or do you even ask? I either don't use it or I sneak in without asking Are you ever met with resistance from staff when you ask to use their loo? What would you change to make this experience easier? I think the council should provide more public toilets that aren't in shops and they should be properly cleaned and maintained with proper lighting and hand drying facilities

I haven't head much of a problem finding loos available for the public to use in shops and cafes etc but find they're often too small - the cubicle door usually opens inwards so squeezing around it with shopping baskets and children is very difficult. The cubicle is often too narrow so that when you sit down, your thigh rubs on the sanitary bin which often has used parts and liners coming out of the lid. The space in the waiting area is never big enough because you're always in the way of the main door, the sinks or the dryers. There are never enough cubicles so you always end up waiting for ages, especially if one or more is out of order. The soap dispensers are often empty and the taps quite often don't work properly - they're either too fast so they spray out and soak you or they're so slow that the water just dribbles out and you can't wash your hands properly or there is only hot water that's so hot it scalds. My child is afraid of the new dryers because they're so loud but the older style hand dryers don't really work either and there's rarely the option to use paper towels instead.

I normally don't have a problem finding a public toilet when my eldest children need to use one.

However it is a different story with my youngest child who has SEN and is too big to change on a baby change table safely, but can't yet use a toilet, therefore we can be limited to where we go out for day trips etc if there are no proper disabled facilities (for us this would be a proper bed with side rail). The only other option for us it to either go to the car and try and change her there, or on the dirty toilet floor

I just wish people would check the loo before they vacate it. Surely it isn’t difficult to take a quick look to ensure that the seat is dry, that there’s no tissue on the floor and that it is in a condition that is acceptable to others.

Hate having to use public loos. I'll cross my legs for as long as possible to avoid it. The worst ones are the outdoor ones at places like the seaside or some National Trust ones. The floor often seems to be swimming with water, & cobwebs everywhere. They're just vile. Compared to those, she ones in shops seem almost ok!

Modern hand dryers are awful for children with autism, and I assume adults too. My daughter really struggles with toilets with these in and we often plan days out around this issue.

We often end up using the disabled toilet if available to help her cope.

My daughter aaaaallllwwways needs the toilet at the most inconvenient time. Whether she goes before we go out or not, she always needs it. Also, even if the toilets are fairly clean, she instantly holds her nose as she can't stand a stinky toilet. There have been plenty where I've had to hover her over he seat and disinfect her hands before we've even got to the sinks to wash them...shudder....

I hate using them but we always have to go in them with my dds. I usually try to find a public one or know where relatively clean ones are in shops.

I generally find that toilets in cinemas, shopping malls and restaurants around here are quite nice.

Toilets located in rural villages and towns tend to be pretty grim. Poky little cubicles, really cheap toilet paper, dirty floors and a huge amount of cobwebs. Never a pleasant experience!

Self cleaning toilets like they have in Europe would be amazing.

I've had some really good experiences, I don't like to ask but desperate measures.... and actually was well worth asking eg. staff letting my daughter use the staff toilets! some public toilets are pretty grim though. Otherwise, some toilets are a great adventure for my daughter. We went to the V&A today and they were perfect...all pink so my daughter loved this, the auto flush was 'amazing' and the hand wash and dry facilities were the perfect height for little people.

I always keep an eye out for a McDonalds when out and about as their toilets are usually well looked after.

I admit I do consider where the loos are wherever we go as a family. It does put me off places if their toilets are rank! I don't rate supermarket loos much. I also always do that obsessive mum thing of getting my DDs to use the loo before they leave home too!

I really hate unflushed toilets, it's just grim. Toilet paper and puddles on the floor make it even worse. Also nappy bins full and not emptied for ages.

My children are teenagers now which gives me a bit more time to find a toilet! When they were small it was a nightmare finding a clean public toilet. In our town now they have an initiative where there is a toilet sign in the window if they have a toilet that you are welcome to use without having to buy something. I think this is a great idea. Public toilets seem to be getting rarer and rarer. It’s not just children that need access but also medical conditions and pregnant ladies who may need a toilet quickly. I think your campaign is much needed Domestos and good luck with it 💐

Public toilets are usually grim and we avoid them unless desperate. We tend to head for loos in department stores, libraries or cafes/pubs when out and about.

I try to avoid public loos as much as possible and the kids know that as well. Sometimes it’s unavoidable though and they themselves will go in toilet after toilet trying to find the cleanest one. And like others have said, queuing is the worst when you’re desperately in need of the toilet

The hardest thing about public toilets with kids is that they touch everything. No matter how many times I tell my 3 year old 'don't touch, dirty' he doesn't listen.

Then we go to wash our hands and the soap has run out. It's just horrible.

Also hand dryers cause so much distress for kids.

Was recently pleasantly surprised when I had to use a loo in a park by a ferry port. It was really well designed and fully functional. Absolutely minimalist with almost nothing that could get broken or vandalised. Very easy to clean, as there was literally nothing other than a loo bowl.
The hand wash area was a hole in the wall where water and soap was dispensed, followed by a dryer kicking in. Everything worked - it was great.

Public loos can be so hit and miss. I'm luckily not in the position (yet!) of having to find them with DC in tow, but even so I remember some doozies - ones where you really need to go but they are just not hygienic enough that you want to go, but you have no other option. There's a (nameless) bar in central London I go to for dancing a fair bit, and staff seem to deal with the poor maintenance of the toilets by putting up scented candles. Who are they kidding!

I used to feel really awkward asking about to use a loo somewhere like a pub, but a lot of people are nicer than you expect them to be.

Generally I find toilets outside the home really quite horrible, the baby changing facilities are usually really dirty too so I end up taking cleaning wipes everywhere to make things a little better to use.

I have an ileostomy and a mobility disability so public toilets are a challenge though I do remind myself as the OP alludes to the problems I have are first world problems really. On the rare occasion I have a leak it takes 20 minutes to change and occupying the toilet for that long is very antisocial so if I can get home without soiling my clothes I just do that. I have a card, similar to the ones Macmillan make for cancer treatment, so that I don't have to shout about it if I were to go into a pub etc with a full bag to empty it.
But I'm pretty chilled about touching surfaces etc and I find disabled toilets in a reasonable state when I use them, with space for a wheelchair and ok for a bag change. I am limited from going out though by the bag and being certain of a toilet if I need it, along with travelling any distance especially when it's very busy.

I hate when you have to pay to use public loos, what if someone is desperate for the loo (I have bladder issues) and has no small change. Usually use cafes when out and about which means they are relatively clean.
I think there should be enough free public toilets so that people don't have to ask to use pub/cafe toilets if they are not a customer.

My DMum is is elderly and every trip involves having to locate toilets, definitely more difficult when abroad as public toilets are pretty non-existent. Generally my first stop in a new town is to the tourist office to locate services.

I've bowel disease so unfortunately my experience of pubic facilities is vast.

Before I got sick we'd all avoid them and cross our legs to get home. Especially DD who finds them revolting. Worst was when out with her dad and too young to go in to the womens on her own had to use the men's. By all accounts they seem more grim than the women's. Also when DC were in nappies ... the bins were not emptied enough.

Now we figure out where toilets are for wherever we are going. There isn't enough!!

Toilets are grim, they often stink, have puddles on the floor or blood and poo around the bowl 😖 it's not hard to check or wipe if you make a mess but seems some people don't know how or just don't care!

I have a radar key but try to avoid using the disabled toilet where possible if I do though often face two problems - a queue of people waiting to baby change as the disabled loo doubles up as a baby change or getting challenged by those with a visible disability or who are waiting to change a nappy.

Additionally when changing others who as other pp have experienced are too big for changing table but unable to use the toilet we are often faced with no where suitable to do this and have to kneel on a dirty floor while the person we are changing stands on said floor. More places need a changing places toilet to meet these needs! A lot of disabled toilets I've been in have the space to add the adaptations but not the willingness to spend the money.

I have a little card I can show shops/cafes etc if I need to go and have never been challenged doing so, however I will normally purchase a bottle of water or a drink for the kids as I feel bad about using them without being a customer!

Basically though the simple and most effective way of improving the facilities we've got is to make sure they're cleaned regularly.

I have a three year old and a six-month-old, generally find that we will use a public toilet at least once or twice during a day out. We live in London and find the best places tend to be museums and shopping centres , who seemed to be geared up with proper baby change facilities (padded changer with belt, nappy bin, easy access to tissues etc). Restaurant-wise it's usually a disabled toilet. Bar far the worst are high street coffee chains- more often than not they are smelly, dirty with broken locks and a lack of loo roll. It's now got to the point that I refuse to drink coffee from one particular chain because the toilets gross me out!

I had the displeasure of using a Sainsbury's loo with my daughter last week - someone had pooed EVERYWHERE - it was on the floor, on the walls, it was the most hideous experience - we did not use that toilet and had to literally run to find an alternative - Starbucks saved the day. People can be so gross.

Public loos in the uk generally aren’t horrific but we always use anti bac jell after using them. I try and go places with loos but we do end up buying things in cafes occasionally if a loo stop is desperate!
If we are at the park we tend to go home early if a loo stop is needed :)