The downstairs loo

[Mick]

Full Bladder Challenge

Yes I know this is an old topic now and yes I have heard that they are reopening again but after what happened the other weekend I thought I might have my say on the subject.

Like a lot of you I read the discussions in the mercury with interest, nodding with agreement and tutting at the cut backs but not really 'that' bothered as we live in the town and are never more than 5 minutes away from our own (or a friendly) crapper. That changed on sunday.

I was heading to the cash point outside Safeway when this old boy (70's easy) stopped me looking for the public toilet near the supermarket, I told him he had overshot it and pointed out its whereabouts and off he went hopping from foot to foot obviously bursting.After fighting with the cash machine and it coughing up the remaining £2.50 left in my overdraft I followed the same way and just out of interest thought I would see if the toilets were open after all. Guess what! thats right, at 7 o'clock on a Sunday. I walked into Galgate just in time to see the old boy driving away.

I thought at the time what would that bloke think of a so called tourist town where he could not find an open public toilet and what would he be telling his friends.

Later on a was thinking whatever happened to public services in general and why are the toilets shut. I have heard all the propaganda, cost, fighting, damage, perverts all have been mentioned as reasons to close a public service but are these not the things we pay the council and the police to sort out? Why should the minority stop the majority from performing from a perfectly natural function?
In my opinion if I am getting a 2% pay rise and the council/police rates go up 10% plus I cannot get a run off anywhere but at home then it seems I am getting a raw deal.

And finally! in todays climate of political correctness I was thinking about rights. My thoughts turned to Cuba and Guantanamo Bay and the fact that people are falling over themselves to protect the human rights of terrorists and yet I cannot exercise my most basic human right to empty my bladder when I need to!" where are the lawyers then when you need them........
Over to you..... ;D

[Bag]

I totally agree with you,I wonder whether the council would be happy with residents and tourists urinating in the street? and more to the point would the council be prepared to pay fines for people captured in the process of the above mentioned.

[Vanessa]

Spain have got that problem solved 100%. They don't generally have puplic loos so any bar or restaurant has to let people use their facilities, irrespective of them being clients or not. There is usually somewhere open at any given hour of the day or night in Spain. But I do agree that is a poor show for Barnard Castle, so I shall not be returning for a bit until they have got that situation sorted out.....lol

[citizen]

Vanessa said:

Spain have got that problem solved 100%. They don't generally have puplic loos so any bar or restaurant has to let people use their facilities, irrespective of them being clients or not. There is usually somewhere open at any given hour of the day or night in Spain. But I do agree that is a poor show for Barnard Castle, so I shall not be returning for a bit until they have got that situation sorted out.....lol

This is what the council are proposing now that all pubs and shops (that have toilets) open their doors to the general public, I'm sure you can see that this will create as many problems as it attempts to solve.

[citizen]

Seen this in the paper the other Wednesday and thought I would add a comment, this quote is from the letter.

"Why should council tax payers in evenwood, Cockfield and Woodland who have lost their public toilets, have to risk losing some other council provision just to to provide an extra facility in Barnard Castle"

A fair point well made but one interesting fact that came out of the open meeting was that in some of these villages the local residents asked to have the toilets closed as they were a hot-spot for anti-social behaviour including underage drinking and drug problems.

Also I would like to add that even though I visit Evenwood and Cockfield regularly and they are nice villages they are hardly setting their stalls out as tourist destinations are they.

This the crux of the matter is Barney IS selling itself as a tourist destination and the town needs the visitors to survive this is also good for the surrounding areas and villages.

When people come to visit they look for a few basics.

1. Somewhere to park.
2. The chance to go to the toilet.
3. Get something to eat and drink.
4. Have something to do while they are here.
5. Have places to relax and enjoy the town.

To be honest we don't do well on any of them but that is another argument for another thread this one is about the toilets.

It's not as if we are asking for a new build just the re-opning of a resource that is ready and waiting to be used and apparently was given a grant some years ago as long as the toilets were kept open for a certain amount of years which they were not.

Use this money to reopen them and go pay as you pee to keep them funded, its only £5000 a year for gods sake.


To me one of the main issues is not even having 2 toilets open but having them open long enough for people to use them, no point in having 2 sets of toilets if they both shut at 5 o'clock.

[Mick]

Would you be prepared to pay to use the toilets to keep them open? vote here