People are sharing online the codes that will give acess to toilets across London!

[stumbledin]

We started the @LDNLooCodes account thinking of it as the simplest kind of direct action: distributing codes on social media (and eventually in print for those without smartphones) to help people in the capital access locked toilets. Our first tweet explained that we would be sharing the codes for loos in various cafes around London as we got them. But the idea – an evolution from personal lists of bathroom codes we kept in our notebooks during our studies – quickly spread further than we could have hoped.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/06/london-loo-codes-public-toilets

London loo codes collected to date: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NZc0IPV9SV_Wy9xoDckHbVDgJyeW2Str231Uz_e0Mg4/edit#gid=0

And location on hidden free loos also being shared twitter.com/ldnloocodes

(And cant see me walking round with a printout of the spreadsheet but I think it shows the level of unmet need judging by the response!)

It's a lovely idea, but surely the codes will get changed pretty quickly.

I don't get it? Cafe toilets? Don't you get the code when you buy something? Seems fair enough to me?

Don't you get the code when you buy something?

That's sometimes known as the sandwich tax. It can add up if you need to pop in somewhere several times a day because there are no public facilities in a city.

Aren’t they locked for a reason? . They’re not public conveniences, they’re for paying customers only?

The lack of facilities is certainly a problem but what about the the poor cafe owners who pay for the loo roll, cleaning etc. You could encourage a ten p donation perhaps. Most cafe owners would let you go regardless if you were obviously in need.

Agree seems fair to me that the codes are for paying customers.

Well I had absolutely no idea there were any toilets in prets or costas etc. This is a revelation.

It is not a lovely idea. Toilets in restaurants and cafes are for paying customers. It's bloody cheeky to think you can just swan in and use them for nothing.

And with your talk of 'direct action' op is this a political stunt in reality?

I’m not planning to use these codes - I am lucky enough not to have any condition making frequent loo use necessary but I thinks it’s shocking how few public loos there are. I’ll pay for something to use one if need to now but shouldn’t have to.

How have I never seen a customer using a loo in a pret - ever? My mind is a bit blown.

You’ll be advocating “liberating” the sandwiches next, op, on the grounds that it’s a cheek to charge that price when you could make it for 20p at home.
Just why do you think you should use these facilities for free?

I always thought i could write a book about london toilets

Where they are, accessibility, cleanliness, how much

Not sure it would be a best seller

There should be more public toilets

Just a stunt really.

Oh and I do have Crohn's disease, being one of the justifications mentioned. Yes it's a nuisance; no I've never thought it entitled me to treat Costa et al as a free public toilet.

We went to a mickey d’s and you needed a code for the bogs

rufus not sure there’s enough for an actual book. Think an a4 (possibly double sided would suffice ?
Agree it doesn’t have ‘bestseller’ written all over it unless you managed an unlikely Hollywood deal - possible tie in with Meghan Markle? You know with london links and gutter press?

I don't see why McDonald's should be abused like that.

It's literally decades since I was in one but they were very useful in their day for a loo when my son was little. Clean, safe toilets, no code needed. Well worth the price of a coffee/ coke/ bag of chips.

RufustheLanglovingreindeer

We went to a mickey d’s and you needed a code for the bogs

Interesting. There didn't use to be. I suppose they got fed up being abused.

Is this just a London thing? I've been a few places where you needed a key, but never one where you needed a code? However, when I was pregnant every trip I made had to be planned around toilets because I needed to wee (very very badly) every half hour. This often meant using Cafe toilets as the only public ones where right in the city center (not London). I usually just went in and used them and no one ever challenged me - probably because I was so obviously pregnant and everyone knows pregnant women need to pee. But if I'd had to buy something every time then it would have added up, and that's something that would disproportionately effect women. Now that I'm potty training my son I find myself planning every journey around toilet proximity again, and again being out with kids disproportionately effects women. Now, if you had a UTI or incontinence (which also both effect women more) you may well get challenged in cafes as its not obvious why you might be in urgent need. So yes, I can see why this is a feminist issue and why having to buy an item to use the loo every time would become a toilet tax for women.

heron

I kinda meant all toilets..even the one where you have to buy a sarnie

Having said that....a celebrity link would be awesome

But who? Liking the idea of Meghan, bit I’m not sure i can tempt her back from Canada

It is not a "toilet tax"

kim

It was very centre london...it had bouncers 😳

Someone charging you to use their toilet does not make it a toilet tax, ffs. You have no actual right of use in the first place, these loos are located in private business premises.