Business reporters
LoveFit Café, near Brighton’s busy city centre railway station, used to say its toilets were available for any passer-by to use, even if they weren’t a customer.
But it was a disaster, says owner Jason Bright, as homeless people would lock themselves in there for long periods of time.
“They’d fall asleep in there or take drugs. You’d get abuse,” says Mr Bright.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done having a public toilet.”
Now he has a customer-only policy, although he does make exceptions for the elderly or young children.
We all get caught short sometimes, and for pregnant women, parents with children and people with certain medical conditions, it can be pretty often. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so you find yourself sidling into a café.
Increasingly, you run into a new problem: a little metal number pad, locking out anyone without a receipt and a keycode. In smaller establishments it might be a key dangling on a string and a lump of wood, but it amounts to the same thing.
Many places have a “no loo for non-customers” rule, and some are finding stricter ways to enforce it.
Recently Starbucks hit the headlines when it reversed its open-door policy in the US, prompting a new look at just how welcoming our High Streets full of coffee shops are, when it comes to people who want to spend a penny, without splashing out on lattes and buns.
In the UK Starbucks will still let non-customers in, but many rivals, including Costa Coffee, Pret a Manger, Waterstones and a large number of independent shops are limiting who can use their loos.
Some even say no to people with medical conditions, says Ellen, 27.
“My dad’s had a kidney transplant and we went in somewhere, explained that, and they still said no.”
But it’s too costly to always buy something, she says. “Coffees are like £4, I don’t really fancy paying that to go in and use the toilet.”
Alice, 25, does sometimes nip in without buying anything, but always asks first.
“If you ask nicely, more people are likely to let you use the toilet,” she says.
Gemma Wardle thinks that should be the general practice. She set up the popular TikTok account Loos of London, highlighting places for when you’re caught short.
“If [venues] have a customer toilet it should be open to all,” she says. She would like to see more public toilets, but doesn’t see why businesses can’t help.
“Shops and cafés should be doing their best to improve the toilet experience for all users, not trying to make it harder.”
Many other social media accounts and apps exist to help you navigate finding a bathroom when you’re out and about, including accessible toilets that people with disabilities can unlock with a Radar key.
One coffee shop that is happy for anyone to use their toilets is 200 Degrees, a chain based in Nottingham owned by Caffe Nero, with 22 shops across the Midlands and the North of England.
Commercial director Will Kenney says they think on balance it is probably good for business to let non-customers in.
“People may feel obliged to have a cup of coffee or a cake as they go back out,” he says. And it is nicer for staff. “No-one wants to be the toilet police,” he says.
But providing toilets isn’t free. As well as more cleaning, there are increased redecorating costs, as well as the obvious extra toilet roll, soap and paper towels, he says.
“We welcome people to come, but we don’t want our coffee shops to become public conveniences.”
None of this would be a problem if there were more public toilets.
But according to the British Toilet Association (BTA) their numbers halved after 2010. Cash-strapped local authorities closed facilities to focus on services they were legally obliged to provide.
Since 2018 numbers have risen again but Raymond Martin, managing director of the BTA, says that, at under 4,000, we still have less than a third of the number he estimates a growing and ageing population needs.
Some local authorities have leapt on what seems to be the perfect solution: to subsidise local cafes and shops to share their facilities. In many parts of the country, stickers can be seen advertising that non-customers are welcome to come in for the toilet.
Unfortunately, the schemes often break down, says Mr Martin, because local authorities see it as an opportunity to save money.
“As soon as they get about 10 to 15 cafes taking part, the council says let’s close [the public provision]. What then happens is those [café] toilets are swamped,” he says. “They can’t cope.”
Private providers often then withdraw, and put a lock on their loo door.
Mr Martin doesn’t think it should be left to coffee shops to fill the gap in provision, especially as they won’t cover the same hours as public toilets, catering to early morning dog walkers, delivery drivers, and evening joggers.
“This is about public decency, public dignity, we can’t have people defecating behind hedges,” he says. He wants the government to make it a legal requirement on local councils to provide enough conveniences.
The body representing local authorities, the Local Government Association (LGA), says its members have been trying to tackle the problem through partnerships with local business.
“However, councils are acutely aware that gaps in provision have opened despite these efforts, for instance where businesses have closed on our High Streets,” an LGA spokesperson said.
It is calling for longer-term funding pledges from central government that would allow authorities to “plan the transformation, rather than the closure, of facilities” and even restore lost conveniences.
Additional reporting by Lucy Acheson and Faarea Masud