I've just been reading an article from the BBC online news about public toilet closures being another symptom to expect from the massive cuts in public services currently being implemented by the coalition government. Apparently out of Manchester
As a child growing up in the 1980's I can clearly remember walking around town inBrighton with my Mum cursing Thatcher for all the toilets that had closed. Later as a teen in the 90's I can remember feeling very sheepish about asking to use the toilets in pubs or shops, I think I may have seen a 'for customer use only' sign at a decisive point and have always felt funny about asking ever since! My worst teen experiences are great examples of how the few toilets left open were poorly maintained.
On my 15th birthday I arrived in Brighton Station with an almighty hangover after a very odd evening attending the funeral service and wake of the dean ofSt Paul
Waiting in the taxi cue atBrighton station the next morning after a tumultuous train ride home it was no surprise I felt a little queasy and unfortunately threw up all over my smart funeral shoes. I had down into the basement of Brighton Station (an area which is no longer a public part of the building) to try to clean up my shoes but found the toilet in a terrible state. Very few of the lights were working and there was toilet tissue and water everywhere, I tried to enter a cubicle to get some toilet roll to clean off the offending chunks only to find someone had shat all over the floor of the darkened cubicle and I now had my own puke and somebody else’s poop on my shoes.
Another experience I find creeping into my consciousness comes from a public toilet I once visited in Brighton Marina. The toilet was outside and underground, accessible via some concrete stairs, it could have been a cold war nuclear bunker. Downstairs it was very, very dark and dingy, from what I could make out of the facilities in the green-ish blinking half light I couldn't imagine a toilet attendant had visited in a long time. I took up residence in one of the cubicles to attempt my business and shortly after heard another man enter, breathing heavily. He took the cubicle next to me and, I kid you not, he started to masturbate, at least that's what it sounded like. I don't know if he was some sort of pervert who was turned on by the thought of wanking within earshot of a much younger man or if he hadn't seen me go in and was just desperate to bat one out after a particularly sexual moment in ASDA, either way it was a very unpleasant experience and not atypical of public toilets in the late 80's-early 90's.
Although many of the buildings that used to be public toilets were sold off by the council (with at least two becoming rehearsal rooms!) the late 90's and 00's certainly saw a mini-renaissance in public convenience in my opinion. Certainly toilets that had long been out of use along the seafront were re-opened and have been well maintained ever since, on my running route I pass at least four, council-run, bright, clean (ish) conveniences. Those basement toilets never returned in Brighton Station but a pre-fab building sprung up behind WH Smiths. It may well demand 20p at its turnstile, but it's clean and the faeces tend to end up in the toilet bowl, not on the floor, in my experience. The park by the pavilion also boasts a very central convenience, which often has a toilet attendant. I don't think my marina experiences would be repeated here.
I can only hope the drastic cutsManchester
As a child growing up in the 1980's I can clearly remember walking around town in
On my 15th birthday I arrived in Brighton Station with an almighty hangover after a very odd evening attending the funeral service and wake of the dean of
Waiting in the taxi cue at
Another experience I find creeping into my consciousness comes from a public toilet I once visited in Brighton Marina. The toilet was outside and underground, accessible via some concrete stairs, it could have been a cold war nuclear bunker. Downstairs it was very, very dark and dingy, from what I could make out of the facilities in the green-ish blinking half light I couldn't imagine a toilet attendant had visited in a long time. I took up residence in one of the cubicles to attempt my business and shortly after heard another man enter, breathing heavily. He took the cubicle next to me and, I kid you not, he started to masturbate, at least that's what it sounded like. I don't know if he was some sort of pervert who was turned on by the thought of wanking within earshot of a much younger man or if he hadn't seen me go in and was just desperate to bat one out after a particularly sexual moment in ASDA, either way it was a very unpleasant experience and not atypical of public toilets in the late 80's-early 90's.
Although many of the buildings that used to be public toilets were sold off by the council (with at least two becoming rehearsal rooms!) the late 90's and 00's certainly saw a mini-renaissance in public convenience in my opinion. Certainly toilets that had long been out of use along the seafront were re-opened and have been well maintained ever since, on my running route I pass at least four, council-run, bright, clean (ish) conveniences. Those basement toilets never returned in Brighton Station but a pre-fab building sprung up behind WH Smiths. It may well demand 20p at its turnstile, but it's clean and the faeces tend to end up in the toilet bowl, not on the floor, in my experience. The park by the pavilion also boasts a very central convenience, which often has a toilet attendant. I don't think my marina experiences would be repeated here.
I can only hope the drastic cuts
[the BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12405259]
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