City of London Council Caught Short On Community Toilet Scheme

A curious ‘exclusive’ on public toilets was published by the muckrakers at The Mirror this weekend. When dealing with community toilets it focused on the City of London.

Many Brits are being forced to spend a penny as councils scrap free public toilets and insist we pay to use the loo.

Not only this, but free public toilets are closing quickly – discriminating against many people that rely on them to leave the house.

This means poorer families, the elderly, pregnant, menstruating and those with conditions like irritable bowel syndrome can feel barred from public life and prisoners in their own homes.

The scandal has been dubbed “appalling” by the British Toilet Association (BTA), which says public toilets are in “crisis” and rapidly vanishing….

Public toilets can also be really expensive to run and clean… To help ease the problem, many councils now don’t provide free toilets themselves but instead rely on the community toilet scheme.

An example is the City of London , which rules over the capital’s financial district, the ‘square mile’.

The council has two fee-charging public toilets, no free ones – but 75 community toilets.

That sounds great on paper, but these toilets are worse for the public than free ones traditionally provided by councils.

Martyn James, of consumer champions Resolver, said: “Many people tell me that they’ve been treated rudely in shops and bars when asking to use their loos – and because most council facilities have been dramatically cut back, that effectively confines a significant percentage of the population to their homes rather than risking being caught short.”

Most people aren’t aware of community toilets.

Councils have websites advertising which retailers are taking part, but often the venues themselves take council cash but don’t flag up that people can use their loos.

Second, these toilets are often in bars and restaurants. Anyone caught short has to hope they are near a participating venue during its opening hours.

In the City of London, for example, almost all bars and restaurants shut on the weekends.

Finally, using ‘public’ toilets located in a busy bar or restaurant feels intimidating to many.

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation defended its community toilets, and said: “They can be easily found on through (sic) our website and participating organisations have a sticker in their window to show they are part of the scheme. This innovative work means the City offers a large, free, toilet provision in the Square Mile.”

Free public loos are dying out across UK as councils force Brits to spend a penny. Many areas now have no public toilets at all, or only ones that charge a fee to use, as councils struggle to find the funds to keep conveniences free and open to all by Sam Barker, Daily Mirror, 3 September 2021. See the original piece here.

The City of London updated its web page about public toilets the day before The Mirror published its piece, presumably in response to being asked about its community toilet scheme by the paper. Until the end of last week there was a notice on the council webpage stating: “Due to Covid-19 all attended toilets are closed until further notice. Automatic Public Conveniences and UrLifts are available. Some Community Toilet Scheme members that are open may allow toilet usage.” Shortly before The Mirror’s piece was published many links to the City’s Community Toilet Scheme became unavailable and started displaying 404 Page Not Found notices.

Notice on City of London webpage about most toilets (community or other types) being unavailable from (we presume) an early stage of the Covid pandemic in the spring of 2020 until 2 September 2021.

The page specifically dedicated to the community toilet scheme currently available on the council’s website still carries this message: “Many Community Toilet Scheme facilities may not be available to non-customers due to social distancing.” Before we move on to other problems with the scheme, we’d like to stress there clearly is an ongoing shortage of toilet facilities in the City and the current pandemic has merely flagged up that one of the shortcomings of community toilets is the ‘participating’ businesses need to be open and willing to allow non-customers to use their facilities.

This council webpage can be viewed here.

The Mirror notes using a busy bar or restaurant can feel intimidating but the associated problems go beyond this. A pub does not need to be busy to be intimidating. Two days ago we passed one of the participating venues in the City’s scheme as police intervened in an altercation between customers at outside tables. One drunk was even shouting down a WPC. This was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday and the pub only had a handful of drinkers. We are also aware of unprovoked violence being directed at individuals using the facilities in other participating pubs.

Even if they are not involved in violent disputes, it is well known that drunks behave in an erratic manner and in the interest of safety women, among others, may well want to avoid community toilets in businesses serving alcohol. Using community toilets in venues serving liquor may also be a problem for those who adhere to a variety of religious beliefs, as well as recovering alcoholics or those who are teetotal for whatever reason.

Those running the City of London’s community toilet scheme know it has inclusivity issues since in a supplementary document to the meeting of the City’s Port Health & Environmental Services Committee on 5th May 2015, there is a breakdown of community toilet scheme businesses by category because a member of the committee requested it. This relates to Outstanding Actions, item 7 on the agenda, and shows about 72 percent of community toilets being located in pubs and bars, with the bulk of the remaining community toilets being in cafes and restaurants some of which also served alcohol.

Official City of London Corporation graphic showing around 72 percent of the council’s community toilets in 2015 being located in pubs and bars, with the bulk of the rest being in restaurants and cafes that are also problematic (and not just because they may also serve alcohol and/or junk food). While the businesses participating in the scheme appear to have changed slightly since then, it seems the percentages of business types involved remains similar. For the original document of which this graphic forms a part go here. See Notes* below for list of current community toilets taken from the council’s interactive map – where strangely the two community toilets in the council’s Guildhall flagged up in various of its documents are not shown (we presume because they are no longer community toilets).

Aside from serving alcohol, some of the restaurants and cafes in the scheme are problematic because they serve foods prohibited by some religions, as well as for vegetarians who may want to avoid cooking smells they find unpleasant. This can be a problem in the bars and pubs in the scheme too, since many of them also serve food.

As The Mirror notes: “The lack of free public toilets has become an equality issue, as the problem locks many out of public life.” We would stress the impact is particularly felt among women, those who aren’t able-bodied, the elderly and those who suffer discrimination due to their ethnicity and/or sexuality.

Wheelchair accessibility is an issue in many City of London toilets, not just those in the community scheme. This matter is something that needs to be addressed across the board but inclusivity in a number of other areas seems to be a far greater problem with specific regard to community toilets. Among other things, we were astounded to find among the participating venues the East India Arms.** Last summer we flagged up the name of this pub in our List of Memorials In The City Of London Linked To Slavery, Colonialism and Racism. While the pub retains its East India Arms name it is deeply problematic for the City council to pay it to participate in its community toilet scheme.

While the City of London council often sounds flushed with success when trumpeting this scheme, we agree with The Mirror that most people aren’t aware of community toilets. No City residents nor people we know living in Islington’s Bunhill ward that borders the square mile had heard of it. Obviously the scheme – and until they are resolved its current shortcomings too – need to be properly publicised.

According to the most up to date figures we could find, participating businesses are paid £600 a year to enrol in the scheme but the City also states on its currently available community toilets webpage that it gives:

Free publicity on the City Corporation website and printed maps.
Free window signs encouraging potential customers to enter the premises.
Potential increase in trade from customers making purchases as a result of entering the premises to use the facilities.
A financial contribution from the City Corporation in exchange for providing clean, safe facilities.

Since the council is aware having a community toilet may increase trade for participating businesses, it is problematic to have such a large number of venues that sell alcohol and/or junk food enrolled in the scheme. Likewise we are not convinced that all the currently participating businesses are providing ‘clean, safe facilities’ as the Corporation suggests. We would, in particular, like to know what the City Corporation is doing to ensure all theses premises are safe for everyone.

City of London Members Briefing 9 June 2011 for councillors trumpets the community toilets scheme, and yet ten years on many of the issues around inclusivity associated with it remain unresolved.

We are not against having community toilets being run alongside public toilets in the City but the scheme as it exists needs to be rethought, the mix of participating businesses rebalanced and the facilities should be properly publicised. We have many issues with the scheme as the City currently runs it but these could be resolved if members of the Port Health & Environmental Services Committee were willing to address them. That said, we have no confidence whatsoever in the abilities of chair Keith Bottomley who we see as holding that position because he is ideologically and tactically in line with the council’s establishment (which is kept in place by the undemocratic business vote). We also view some other members of this committee as politically and in other ways problematic, although we by no means see all of them in this way.

To state the obvious, the community toilet scheme in the City is not only about saving money on health and sanitation (which when done wisely is sensible), it is also one small piece in ongoing moves towards expanding the night time economy. For background reading on that see the council’s Port Health & Environmental Services document of 24 November 2015 entitled Public Conveniences Strategy – Update on Service Based Review Savings. We have posted in the past about how more visible efforts aimed at expanding the night time economy, and specifically the Culture Mile vanity project, simultaneously serve to marginalise and exclude working class communities in the City and bordering the City. Since upmarket bars, cafes and restaurants play a part in this, we do not see expanding the number of such businesses enrolled in the community toilet scheme as resolving the issues we have with it. The role the community toilet scheme has the potential to play in council sponsored gentrification is very minor but nevertheless as and when this occurs we will still object to it.

Example of the signs currently used to advertise community toilets in the City of London.

Notes

Businesses currently participating in the community toilet scheme according to the City of London’s interactive map:

The Shakespeare
2 Goswell Road, London, EC1M 7AA
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Old Red Cow
71 – 72 Long Lane, London, EC1A 9EJ
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Butchers Hook & Cleaver
60 – 63 West Smithfield, London, EC1A 9DY
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Bishops Finger
9-10 West Smithfield, London, EC1A 9JR
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Eat Viet
49 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4LL
Facilities Available: Unisex Accessible Toilet

Natural Kitchen
1 -3 Nevill Street Square, London, EC4A 3AP
Facilities Available: Unisex & Accessible Toilets

Natural Kitchen
26 Tudor Street, London, EC4Y 0AY
Facilities Available: Male, Female and Accessible Toilets

Natural Kitchen
172 – 176 Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HR
Facilities Available: Male, Female and Accessible Toilets

Fetter Barbers
144 – 146 Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1BT
Facilities Available: Unisex Toilets

Ye Olde Cock Tavern
22 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1AA
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Tempio Bar & Restaurant
5 – 9 Temple Chambers, Temple Avenue, London, EC4Y 0HP
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Hack and Hop
35 Whitefriars Street, London, EC4Y 8BH
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Chi Noodle Bar
5 New Bridge Street, Bride Court, London, EC4V 6AB
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Punch Tavern
99 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1DE
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Hoop & Grapes
80 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4BR
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Harry’s Pizzeria Bar
15 Blackfriars Lane, London, EC4Y 6ER
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Cockpit
7 St Andrews Hill, London, EC4V 5BY
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Shaw Booksellers (a pub not a bookshop)
31 -34 St Andrew’s Hill, London, EC4V 5DE
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Rising Sun
61 Carter Lane, London, EC4V 5DY
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Ye Olde London
42 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7DE
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Magpie & Stump
18 – 20 Old Bailey, London, EC4M 7EP
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Viaduct Tavern
126 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AA
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Lord Raglan
61 St Martins Le Grand. London, EC4A 1ER
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Nandos
120 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7HY
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

Nandos
Level 1 South, One New Change, London, EC2V 6AG
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

The Sea Horse
64 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4N 4SY
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

One New Change Shopping Complex
1 New Change, London, EC2V 6AG
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

The Fine Line
1 Bow Churchyard, London, EC4M 9DQ
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Pavilion End
23 Watling Street, London, EC4M 9BR
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Kurumaya
76 Watling Street, London, EC4M 9BJ
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

St Lawrence Jewry (Church of England Church)
Guildhall Hall Yard, EC2V 5AA
Facilities Available: Unisex Toilets

Wood Street Bar & Restaurant
53 Fore Street, Barbican, London, EC2Y 5EL
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Old Dctor Butlers Head
2 Masons Ave, London, EC2V 5BT
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Tokenhouse
4 Moorgate, London, EC2R 6DA
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

The Vintry
119-121 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 5AY
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

The Telegraph
11 Telegraph Street, London, EC2R 7AR
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

K10 Modern Japanese Cuisine
20 Copthall Avenue, London , EC2R 7DN
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

K10 Modern Japanese Cuisine
3 Appold Street, London EC2A 2AF
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

K10 Japanese Cuisine
2 Minster Court, 3 Mincing Lane, Lonodn, EC3R 7AA
Facilities Available: Male and Female Toilets

The Red Lion
1 Eldon Street, London, EC2M 7LS
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Arbitrager
27A Throgmorton Street
Facilities Available: Male and Female Toilets

The Cock and Woolpack
6 Finch Lane, London, EC3V 3NA
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Counting House
50 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3PD
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

The Crosse Keys
7 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0DR
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

The M Bar
48 – 51 Leadenhall Market, London, EC3V 1LT
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Barcelona Tapas Bar & Restaurant
24 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7HS
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Barcelona Tapas Bar & Restaurant
1 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7AA
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

The Windsor
2 New London Street, London, EC3R 7NA
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

East India Arms
67 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 4BR
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Slug & Lettuce
25 St Mary Axe, London, EC3A 8AA
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

Fernando’s
10 Devonshire Row, London, EC2M 4RM
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Hamilton Hall
32 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7PY
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

The Shooting Star
125 – 129 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7JF
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

The Craft Beer Co.
29 – 31 Mitre Street, London, EC3A 5BU
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Fleetwood
36 Wilson Street, London, EC2M 2TE
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

White Horse Pub & Grill
31 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7DB
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

La Piazzetta
1 White Kennett Street
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Three Tuns
36 Jewry Street, London, EC3N 2FT
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Still & Star
1 Little Somerset Street, London, E1 8AH
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Duke of Somerset
15 Little Somerset Street, London, E1 8HA
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

The Angel
14 Crosswall, London, EC3N 2LJ
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

Crutched Friar
39 – 41 Crutched Friars
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

The Liberty Bounds
15 Trinity Square, London, EC2N 4AA
Facilities Available: Male, Female, Accessible & Baby Change Toilets

Assenheim 56
19 – 21 Great Tower Street, London, EC3R 5AR
Facilities Available: Unisex Toilets

Britannia
23 Monument Street, London EC3R 8AJ
Facilities Available: Male & Female Toilets

The Hydrant
1 Monument Street, London, EC3R 8BL
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

Loose Cannon
13 – 16 Allhallows Lane, London, EC4R 3UL
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

The Banker
Cousin Lane, London, EC4R 3TE
Facilities Available: Male, Female & Accessible Toilets

** Listed In both the Outstanding Actions document from 2015 and on the council’s current 2021 interactive map.