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Public toilets, some advice please

Thameslink Rail

Thameslink Rail

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So I've just been to the London Dungeons and at the end I needed the toilet so I asked the barman where the nearest toilet was, he told me it was past the eye and the carousel. So I went there and they were charging £1. Yikes! I looked for other toilets and there were none. Why can't public toilets be free? Why can't I just be able to find the nearest free toilets easily or at the very least be able to go into a pub and use their toilet without having to buy anything?
 
Thameslink Rail said:
So I've just been to the London Dungeons and at the end I needed the toilet so I asked the barman where the nearest toilet was, he told me it was past the eye and the carousel. So I went there and they were charging £1. Yikes! I looked for other toilets and there were none. Why can't public toilets be free? Why can't I just be able to find the nearest free toilets easily or at the very least be able to go into a pub and use their toilet without having to buy anything?
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Yes! So annoying, think the last time I was round that area I just went to STP as I knew they had free to use toilets.
 
I don't know if it's an autism-related sensory thing, but I'm not a fan of public toilets - especially some in train stations. Stoke's loos on either platform are a bit small, but usually clean, though they're a nightmare to use if I've got a fair-sized suitcase. :p Worst train station loos by far are those in London Cannon Street. The steps down to them are just grim. I'm thankful train station toilets in London's mainline terminii are generally free now - best ones by far are those at St Pancras, though they kinda have to be, given it's the UK home of Eurostar. Euston's are fine, especially since they were made free and got rid of the barriers, but they feel slightly too open for my liking. On the continent, it's quite common to pay for public toilets, but they're virtually always kept to an incredibly high standard of cleanliness.
 
Jonathan said:
I don't know if it's an autism-related sensory thing, but I'm not a fan of public toilets - especially some in train stations. Stoke's loos on either platform are a bit small, but usually clean, though they're a nightmare to use if I've got a fair-sized suitcase. Worst train station loos by far are those in London Cannon Street. The steps down to them are just grim. I'm thankful train station toilets in London's mainline terminii are generally free now - best ones by far are those at St Pancras, though they kinda have to be, given it's the UK home of Eurostar. Euston's are fine, especially since they were made free and got rid of the barriers, but they feel slightly too open for my liking. On the continent, it's quite common to pay for public toilets, but they're virtually always kept to an incredibly high standard of cleanliness.
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Pretty sure it is! Im not generally a fan of public toilets because well there's people.
 
imanautie said:
Pretty sure it is! Im not generally a fan of public toilets because well there's people.
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Yeah, there's that as well. The taps on the sinks at my gym are awful, in that whenever I put my hands under them, water sprays everywhere, and I get a bit wet. Not ideal when I haven't even started my workout. There are other issues I have with public toilets, but they're probably better off in the relevant Tavern thread. :p
 
Thameslink Rail said:
So I've just been to the London Dungeons and at the end I needed the toilet so I asked the barman where the nearest toilet was, he told me it was past the eye and the carousel. So I went there and they were charging £1. Yikes! I looked for other toilets and there were none. Why can't public toilets be free? Why can't I just be able to find the nearest free toilets easily or at the very least be able to go into a pub and use their toilet without having to buy anything?
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Welcome to London, paying to use the toilet is nothing new, back in the day, they used to charge a penny hence the phrase "going to spend a penny"

You could have gone to MacDonald's a few doors along and used their toilet for free, if they say the toilets are for customer use only, you could have used that £ to purchase something off the 99p menu ;)
 
RoyJess said:
Welcome to London, paying to use the toilet is nothing new, back in the day, they used to charge a penny hence the phrase "going to spend a penny"

You could have gone to MacDonald's a few doors along and used their toilet for free, if they say the toilets are for customer use only, you could have used that £ to purchase something off the 99p menu ;)
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Thing is, I live in Luton where if you are in the town centre then you are never more than 5 mins away from the mall and there are several sets of free toilets there. I'm not really used to London, I just wanted to go to the dungeons (I went through twice). It still seems weird to me paying to use a public toilet.
 
RoyJess said:
Welcome to London, paying to use the toilet is nothing new, back in the day, they used to charge a penny hence the phrase "going to spend a penny"

You could have gone to MacDonald's a few doors along and used their toilet for free, if they say the toilets are for customer use only, you could have used that £ to purchase something off the 99p menu ;)
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I've done the Maccies method before. Went into the one by Marble Arch to use the loo before the charity press night for Winter Wonderland, and fully intended on just getting a McFlurry. Then I got the expected-yet-dreaded phone call from my Mum to let me know that my Gran had died, and I ended up leaving having lost my appetite. I don't think anyone can really argue with me doing that.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Thing is, I live in Luton where if you are in the town centre then you are never more than 5 mins away from the mall and there are several sets of free toilets there. I'm not really used to London, I just wanted to go to the dungeons (I went through twice). It still seems weird to me paying to use a public toilet.
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I used to worked in London for many years as a street entertainer in London Covent Gardens. London is a whole different ball game. There are plenty of free toilets around London if you know where to look for them. London is a rip off for tourists. Back in the day (I'm talking the mid 80's to the mid 90's) a cup of coffee/tea would set you back £5. I would hardly purchase anything in Covent Garden, just by walking a few minutes walk around the corner, you could purchase the same things for a fraction of the price. I do the same with Great Yarmouth, if you purchase Fish and chips on the sea front, you pay a fortune, but there are a couple of chippies down the side streets that charge half the price.

Jonathan said:
I've done the Maccies method before. Went into the one by Marble Arch to use the loo before the charity press night for Winter Wonderland, and fully intended on just getting a McFlurry. Then I got the expected-yet-dreaded phone call from my Mum to let me know that my Gran had died, and I ended up leaving having lost my appetite. I don't think anyone can really argue with me doing that.
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I'm so sorry to hear this. I don't blame you for losing your appetite
 
I found in London using a Wetherspoons or Maccies toilet works, no one bats an eyelid.

Sent from my Huawei P30 Pro using Tapatalk
 
James said:
I found in London using a Wetherspoons or Maccies toilet works, no one bats an eyelid.

Sent from my Huawei P30 Pro using Tapatalk
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With some Wetherspoons, you don't even have to go near the bar to access the toilets - the Metropolitan Bar by Baker Street tube station is the perfect example of this.
 
Came in to say find the nearest Witherspoon's, beaten to it. Usually plenty of cubicles available and clean enough if you're not too late in the day.
 
So are the toilets at county hall closed then? I'm a bit behind the times with the status of the midway attractions, just assumed they'd have to have them open for customers.
 
Tim said:
So are the toilets at county hall closed then? I'm a bit behind the times with the status of the midway attractions, just assumed they'd have to have them open for customers.
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The county hall toilets were closed. Not sure why.
 
I'd complain to London Dungeon, they really should offer toilets for paying customers of the attraction. Or at least if theirs are out of action they could allow you to use some at the London Eye or Sea Life aquarium.


Also FYI the County Hall McDonalds has gone.
 
RoyJess said:
I never knew that, however in London you are never far away from a McDonalds anyway ;)
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Surprisingly from County Hall it might be some distance to a McDonalds with toilets. Several small ones don't have seating or toilets, or are in a railway station so you have to use the station toilets.
 
jon81uk said:
Surprisingly from County Hall it might be some distance to a McDonalds with toilets. Several small ones don't have seating or toilets, or are in a railway station so you have to use the station toilets.
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The nearest McDonald's would be at Waterloo Station which is a pain to get to from the Dungeons (I came from Westminster tube).
 
For my sins I once sat on a parish council for a year, think Vicar of Dibley ... one of the most contentious things we discussed was the public toilet that the committee was responsible for. It cost about £40,000 a year to provision it - by the time you had powered it, paid the water bill, had Doris clean it, etc. Interestingly, a quarter of the budget was for toilet roll!

It's definitely frustrating when you can't find a public loo, but equally I don't blame businesses who are in high footfall areas who have a constant flow of people wanting to use their facilities and not providing custom when they do so.

In all of our town parks, there used to be public toilets, I am not sure that there are any now - I am sure in part due to cost cutting, but also because they were used for anything but their intended purpose!
 
Thameslink Rail said:
The nearest McDonald's would be at Waterloo Station which is a pain to get to from the Dungeons (I came from Westminster tube).
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and no toilets there, need to use the station ones.

I really do think you need to email the Dungeon and complain though, if they have a bar they should offer customer toilets.
 
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