Spending A Penny - Sheffield September 1988

In the same edition of the Sheffield Star (Tuesday 13th September 1988) that contained the brief obituary on Walter Holmes (1914-1988) - see previous blog, there was this article that was posted by the excellent Stephen McClarence.

In the 27 years since the article was published nearly all the public toilets in Sheffield have been closed down and in some cases demolished. This is mirrored throughout the country - it is estimated that 1782 toilets have been closed in the last decade alone with many coucils offering no public toilets at all.

There is no legal obligation at all for councils to provide these public facilities but it is an area where there needs to be a wholesale re-think. My own opinion is that comprehensive public toilet facilities should be mandatory in areas that are promoting themselves as tourist destinations, and more basic facilities should be compulsory in towns with a population exceeding 10,000 in number. 

The wholesale absence of these facilities in many towns and cities is not accepatable in Britain in the twenty-first century