 | Adam Hart-Davis celebrates and investigates the public loo |
Public toilets Everyone needs to spend a penny at some time in their lives. The public loo has become a convenient way of seeking relief for anyone who has ever been caught short. It also has a long and proud history, but is the status of the public convenience under threat? Adam Hart-Davis investigates the demise of public toilets and asks, "Are you prepared to pay to pee?" The humble lavatory
West-based writer and broadcaster Adam Hart-Davis has been interested in research about lavatories for about 10 years since he made a film for television about the Victorian plumber Thomas Crapper. "For instance," he says, "Did you know there was outrage in 1851 when engineer George Jennings charged people to use the cubicles in the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park?  | | Professor Clara Greed - world authority on public toilets |
"But 827,000 people did choose to 'spend a penny' and thatÂ’s probably where the expression comes from." For Inside Out West, he teamed up with Bristol Professor Clara Greed from the University of the West of England. She's a town planner and self-confessed toilet evangelist who is recognised as a world authority on the subject of public conveniences. They found concern about closure of rundown and vandalised toilets in local communities - even though the money saved was in some cases used to improve toilets in other areas, in particular adding facilities for disabled people and nappy changing.
At your convenience...
Professor Greed says:
"A nation is judged by its toilets, it's one of the first images tourists and visitors get and we should generally be ashamed in this country." Greed wants local authorities to be obliged by law to provide good toilets and for there to be ring-fenced funding.  | | The British Toilet Association inspects standards in public loos |
She says that she became deeply involved in the issue when it was a topic which came up time and time again as she spoke to the public, particularly women and elderly people and parents with young children, in the course of her urban planning research.
"Some people are limited to how far they can travel by what we have termed the 'bladder's leash'," she says. Adam Hart-Davis found sparkling new loos at 20 pence a go at the newly-revamped Bristol bus station but not everybody thought there should be a charge.
Have your say...
Would you be prepared to pay for better toilets in your area? Bristol Women's Forum's survey results showed more than 60 per cent would be prepared to pay up to 20 pence for clean toilets, preferably with an attendant. Find out more about the British Toilet Association campaign | 
Inside Out - West: Friday March 2, 2007
