No loos!

My council has closed all the public loos except for the ones in the city centre. Cafes and restaurants are supposed to take up the slack.

Aargh! There aren't any.

I used to live in Scone. There never have been any loos in the park there. Small children may have used the rhododendron bushes as cover from time to time.

There's a library just down the road from the park, they have a loo.

Otherwise, why not take a potty and liners with you when you go out with little ones, in case they're caught short?

Potty and liners doesn't help adults who might well need a loo from time to time We have three parks with loos and two without .... there isn't anything like enough loos around I work in a children's hospice charity shop and we are not even allowed to let little children use the loos and it's quite a walk to the public ones

Well no, not much use for an adult, that's true, but I assumed as the OP mentioned children, that she was considering their needs. Some of those villages such as Balbeggie, Wolfhill etc are tiny and I wouldn't expect them to have loos, tbh.

With budget cuts, this is a growing problem, and bad planning doesn't help. The station in our local town (popn 82,000) was refurbished recently, and the toilets disappeared during the renovation. We now have just one set of public toilets in the town centre, and they're not the best. The library toilets are locked, and only people who are registered disabled are given the key. Thank goodness for M & S, where there's always a queue!

The public loos in the centre of Perth have been converted into a cafe. I don't think I could ever bring myself to go in there!

I imagine that carrying a potty when you have six children in tow might be a trifle too much. I remember a time, many years ago when we lived in NW London, when my son (then aged about 5) badly needed to wee, there were no public toilets, so I walked him down a side street and told him to do it against a tree. Some very posh woman came along and gave me a mouthful about how disgusting that was. I was mortified. I could see her point, but what was I to do? Now, I live on the Continent and here they are much more relaxed about this sort of thing, at least as far as children are concerned. Though you often see grown men relieving themselves by the side of the road. Us women seem to get the short end everywhere, I have the public toilets mapped out all through the town so as not to be caught short.

Here's a map of public loos and comfort schemes in Perth & Kinross. www.pkc.gov.uk/article/17661/Map-of-public-toilets-and-comfort-schemes

I have to say, I can't begin to imagine taking six under-5yo children to the loo, let alone spending a penny myself!

Having just started a stronger diuretic this is now a fairly important topic to me! I must admit I've never coped well with the 'stand-up' women's loos on the continent - I think you have to grow up with them to know how to avoid serious misadventure

It's a lovely wee cafe and run by a charity!!!

As someone with an 'urgency' issue I daren't take the GC to places where there aren't any loos - and the parks are one of them. Sadly toilet provision is not a statutory requirement and so many are closing in the mistaken belief that it's a money saving action. The lack of facilities actually enforces exclusivity as many people stay at home rather than risk an 'accident'. I highlight the plight of our UK toilet situation as much as I can but unless we all do so nowt will happen! Even toilets in tourist areas such as Haworth are under threat. How mad is that?

Our small town has public loos just off the main square. And they're free! But closed in the evenings. The church has a loo and is open during the day and the pubs and tea shops have loos too and no one objects if you want to use them but not buy anything. The rec has loos behind the cricket pavilion, but they're not always open, so I suppose we're quite well served.

My DH, who has stomach problems, has a RADAR key which enables him to gain access to most disabled loos which is very useful when the public loos are closed for the winter, or just night. To get one you just need to fill in an on line form saying you're disabled enough to need one and send off your fiver. No checks needed.

Our Local Council has closed lots of the loos in town including a brand new one conveniently! placed in the main car park, we have also been advised to use the cafes and shops around us absolute nightmare for those who can't walk long distances to the only one still open.

The lack of public loos renders a lot of people housebound and is something that needs to be addressed urgently.

Not much point expecting cafes to provide the service because if you have to pay for a drink to use the loo you will pretty soon be needing another wee.

The built environment is essential to prevent loneliness, we have Age UK and others rinning caampaigns about the lonely elders and they never mention the fact that no loos, few benches and poor transport are partly to blame. They think a phone call from an approved stranger is the answer. Grrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm at grannylyn's "lovely wee café....very much in the spirit of the thread..

DH and I are not happy with toilet provision anywhere to be honest. We went in a huge carpet warehouse once and we were looking to spend hundreds of pounds but before we could shop comfortably we needed to use the restroom. We asked the assistant if there was a restroom we could use and they said no and so we tried to soldier on but I later looked over at the assistant who by now was talking to a colleague and they were both smirking and looking over at us to which I said to DH, "come on, we're leaving, we're not putting money in their pockets if they can't even let us use the restroom" In a place as big as that and other large shops there should be PCs especially if you getting on a bit you need a toilet nearby.

It's a serious issue, really. I agree that many are housebound because of the lack of public loos. I have "urgency" issues too and it really is a pain in the proverbial.

Yes, Age Uk - get your priorities right!

I don't know about your area but where I live there are meant to be coffee bars etc signed up for the toilets scheme (as our council has closed ours too) but they don't display the sign on their doors like they're meant to and no one including their own staff knows anything about it.

It's all part of why there is so much unemployment and poverty - no one wants to spare the money to employ park keepers and lavatory attendants so instead they close everything.

The lack of clean public toilets unfortunately came about after the campaign to make them free. In France a lot of public loos are a small business. You pay 50 cents, half a euro at the most and they are pristine, children under 12 are often free. I am sure we would gladly pay for the convenience. Perhaps this should be picked up as a political issue in local elections.

When toilets really did involve "spending a penny" in a slot, did this cover the cost of cleaning etc?
I hate the idea of having to pay, but would rather find a charging one than another closed one!

I had my granddaughter (4) in the park when she needed to do a poo. No toilets, so I had to take her to the corner and let her go there. Pretty disgusting, but what on earth was i supposed to do? Lack of toilets is a problem everywhere. I want to do a car boot sale but there are no toilets at the venue and I can't last for five hours!

I put the 'find a toilet' app. on my phone after a recommendation on GN, but the only time I needed it on a day out with GC I couldn't get a signal!

Its all part of public cuts, Same reason that litter is not cleared up , roads are potholed etc. One of the prices of austerity! I agree Id rather pay for them to be open and cleaned!