Launch of London Loo Alliance

The desperate need for better toilet provision brings the launch of a new Alliance on World Toilet Day

• Diverse group of 14 organisations launches as London Loo Alliance
• The Alliance calls for urgent attention to issue of the lack of toilets
• They aptly launch on 19 November, United Nations World Toilet Day

The newly formed London Loo Alliance launches on Tuesday 19 November which is World Toilet Day. It brings together a diverse group of 14 organisations including charities, civic societies, trade unions, researchers and campaigners. Many have already been campaigning for better toilet provision, raising awareness, and working on solutions and together are now calling with one voice for improvements.

The Alliance says that London is in desperate need of better public toilet provision to improve the quality of life for the capital’s residents, workers and visitors. The major new coalition is calling for improved public toilet facilities across the capital as a matter of urgency. Alliance members believe that adequate toilet provision is both a fundamental right and a crucial public health matter.

Research shows that one in five people agree that they are unable to go out as often as they would like because of concerns around a lack of public toilets. The situation, sometimes referred to as the “loo leash”, has a particularly stark impact on elderly and disabled Londoners, as well as those living with health conditions like bowel disease, and workers whose jobs mean it can be a struggle to find a nearby loo.

The Alliance aims to persuade those in London with the power to improve provision, whether regional or local government, businesses, transport operators and others, that they can and should act. The improvements they want to see are not just about an increase in the number of toilets ,but also the accessibility of toilets, better design, cleanliness, opening hours, maintenance, signage, and information for the public.

The number of public toilets has decreased dramatically in London, and around the country, in recent decades. The decline has accelerated in the past few years due mainly to budget cuts and the pandemic. 

A recent report has highlighted that where public toilets exist in London, the majority are not accessible, whilst recent FOI requests showed that public toilets in some London boroughs are on course to be extinct by 2028! 

The issue has a huge impact on people’s lives. The London Assembly survey of 3,504 Londoners found that 91.3% of respondents do not feel toilet provision is adequate to meet their needs. Age UK London’s research conducted with older Londoners found that nine in ten have considered the availability of toilets before making a journey and, that over half, have sometimes reduced the amount they drink before going out.

There is cause for optimism with some councils across London taking small but significant steps from launching Community Toilet Schemes to developing toilet strategies and increasing the number of Changing Places toilets. This month Transport for London announced plans to increase the number of toilets on its network with a £15 million investment over the next five years.

The launch on Tuesday, 19 November at 11am will see members of the Alliance gathering by closed public toilets on Broadwick Street in Soho, which until recently was one of the last remaining free-of-charge subterranean public toilets in London. In 1966 John Lennon famously took part in a comedy sketch with Peter Cook outside these toilets. 

John McGeachy, Coordinator of the London Loo Alliance said, “This alliance of organisations, representing a diverse group of people in London, shows the strength of feeling that there is about this issue and the numerous ways that people are affected. Access to a public toilets, is a basic human need.

“This new coalition will be working very hard to ensure that not finding a toilet in London, especially one that is clean and maintained, becomes a thing of the past.”

Avnish Goyal CBE, Chair of the Hallmark Foundation, which has funded the creation of the Alliance, says: “People of all ages and backgrounds may get caught short while out and about. Access to toilets is therefore a critical issue for all of us and a key part of local infrastructure and a civilized society. We hope the new Alliance will make London a better city for everyone, building on recent plans for improved station toilets announced by the Mayor of London, and influence the provision of toilets across the country.”

The London Loo Alliance launch is one of several events taking place in London on World Toilet Day. The day is bookended by the launch of the Soho Toilet Study in the early morning and a talk hosted by The London Society in the evening.

The 14 London Loo Alliance members are ACORN, Age UK London, Bloody Good Period, British Toilet Association, Communication Workers Union, Crohn’s & Colitis UK, Greater London Forum for Older People, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (Royal College of Art), Inclusion London, Kilburn Older Voices Exchange, The London Society, Royal Society for Public Health, Soho Neighbourhood Forum and The Toilet Manifesto for London Group.