We've all been there. There's nothing worse than getting caught short when you're out and about. Sometimes this issue is exacerbated with age or certain medical conditions. But where do you go when the lack of accessible public toilets in Liverpool has been branded by some as a "disgrace."
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00:00 When you're out and about in the city centre, where do you go to relieve
00:04 yourself? If you need to go and spend a penny, then you'd be hard-pressed to find
00:12 somewhere readily available. Sometimes this issue can be exacerbated with age
00:17 or certain medical conditions. We've been on the streets of Liverpool to ask you.
00:22 Do you think there are enough public toilets in Liverpool?
00:26 No, I think it's a disgrace. I think it's an absolute disgrace. When you go in shops,
00:32 I went to Mark's the other day and he ended up saying to me, "There's no toilets in here."
00:36 He said, "If you want to use toilets, the nearest one to the nearest downstairs,
00:40 go to one in Liverpool."
00:42 You've got to go into a betting shop or a pub or whatever. In some places now,
00:47 we'll say customers only. So there's only the market, really, that I know of.
00:54 There used to be them in Marks and Spencers, but they've gone. So anybody with
00:58 bladder conditions or health conditions, it's not good.
01:02 There are no enough public toilets around. Like yesterday, I was travelling to London
01:07 at the bus stop by the National Express. I wanted to go to the toilets. I couldn't
01:15 ease myself. I was told to go to Lewis. Is it Lewis? John Lewis. Sorry.
01:24 So because there were no toilets, I mean, I was so pressed. I couldn't help myself.
01:29 But there is not enough. This is just a case study. This just happened less than 24 hours.
01:34 People wrecked them years ago, didn't they? They had to stop them. They pushed with a bag.
01:41 Who's going to pay for the maintenance? Council taxes again, then?
01:45 So, and anyway, you know, you can always jump into a pub or a betting shop,
01:51 you know what I mean? So there's not so much trouble with that, really.
01:56 There's no way you can go to it. It's just a fine, stupid life.
02:00 You know, years ago, going back, when I was younger, there used to be public toilets,
02:04 and there was nothing sensible, see? Well, I think it's just a way of getting money
02:08 out to people. People get charged. It's only 30p, but they get charged to go to toilets now.
02:15 Whereas there are public things that are being used. That's what the public,
02:19 you should look after the public. No, I think there should be more,
02:23 but then you've got to police them. It's been bemoaned by many that the
02:28 recently opened M&S in Liverpool 1 now only features one loo. Of course, it isn't on
02:35 retailers to be providing facilities, but it has got people talking. Now, the call for more public
02:40 toilets is not a recent phenomenon, with TripAdvisor reviews going back years discussing
02:46 the lack of loos in Liverpool. And the issue isn't just exclusive to the city. A 2019 report
02:53 titled 'The Decline of the Great British Toilet' noted that three in four people in the UK
02:58 think there are not enough public loos in their area.