Isn't it funny how toilet roll has changed over the years?

Tubeless. I was silly enough to order some as they were on offer at Ocado- blooming things wont undo and the middle gets all clogged up together.

When my Mum was a child she had to tear up broadsheet newspapers into squares and thread them on string for the loo.
Izal just spread everything around your nether regions.
However, loo paper wasn't my biggest concern. Our outside loo had no electric light but always had a spider of some sort. Going out there in the dark and rain was not for the faint-hearted.
I have long thought that anyone wanting to invest some cash could do well putting it into toilet rolls. It's something everyone needs and if this house is anything to go by gets used in record time.

Izal toilet paper was about the same period as carbolic soap, our school had both in the loos, and we used TCP and germolene, everything smelled overpoweringly of disinfectant.

In my 20s I worked for a time as a civil servant (shoot me now). The loo roll in the Ladies was Izal-type tracing paper quality, with "Property of Her Majesty's Government" printed on every sheet. I can't imagine why the powers-that-be wanted to identify themselves as the owners, nor who in their right mind would sanction the expense of all that printing ink - and what would the police charge you with if you did?

Oops - "if you did nick some"...

I can’t say it’s a topic I have given much thought to! 🤣🤣🤣

As this post is associated with bathrooms i thought i'd add this little tip. Instead of using highly floral scented air fresheners, i buy the cheapest man deodorant i can find and use that instead. Currently using one from Poundland, it leaves my bathroom smelling wonderfully fresh. 😊

In the early nineties, I worked for a firm run by a family whose whose ethos and working practices were straight out of a Dickens novel. In an era where soft loo roll was the norm, their staff facilities had carbolic soap and Izal type paper. Only the directors facilities had soft loo roll. If a roll ran out and you were the last one using it, you had to go to the office manager and sign another one out! I took my own in, as did other members of admin staff!

I remember the newspaper cut up into squares but at least we had our own toilet - even if you had to ‘cross the yard’ to get to it. On the other side of the road were ‘back to back’ houses where people shared toilets - one toilet to three houses if I recall. I never thought about it as a child, but later I realised how awful it must have been.