Nowhere to go when you really have to go.

last updated 8 January 2015

United Kingdom

The public lavatory is in danger of extinction,” said Rosemary Behan in the London Daily Telegraph. In just the past six years, the number of public bathrooms in London has shrunk from 700 to just 400. Some were sold off, others razed, many simply closed. At Brighton station, a Victorian-era restroom with pedestal basins and colorful tile work, was recently replaced by a drab, industrial facility with coin-operated stalls. “Since when did needing the loo become a chargeable offense?” The result of this culling was all too predictable. “The specter of men relieving themselves everywhere and anywhere is now a depressingly common sight.” As for women, we are reduced to “sneaking into department stores, queuing surreptitiously in Burger King, or forced to conduct a lightning raid on an unsuspecting pub.” Providing clean public bathrooms is, one would think, a basic service in any civilized country. “Yes, some lavatories attract vandals, drug addicts, and gay cruisers,” but that is all the more reason for them to be “properly manned.”