When the Covid-19 lockdown went into effect, public toilets across the UK shut too. Now the country is re-opening again, and people are having socially-distant meet ups in the park, the lack of public bathroom facilities is becoming a real issue.
Luckily, a crowd-sourced website is here to save you and not a moment too soon. LockdownLoo.com has been set up by Sir Caughtshort, a character created by two brothers, one who works in tech and one in the civil service who both wish to remain anonymous.
Sir Caughtshort said the reason behind the website was because it had become a “desperate necessity.” “Like many others, I had found the lack of open toilets a real barrier to going very far, seeing friends or going to the shops. As the UK’s current toilet databases seem to be all out of data, I decided to take lockdownloo.com.”
The website, which took only 30 minutes to set up, has been up and running for a few days. Sir Caughtshort has been using mainly council websites to find open toilets and is asking the public to submit ones they know about too. The listings are nice and detailed, sometimes including timings and comments on cleanliness, as well as the potential for a wait. For instance in Haggerston Park, the listing recommends to use “only if absolutely necessary”, whereas in Queensway, the toilets are clean “but soap was limited and the hand dryer did not work.”
“It started as a laugh but the response by people has been amazing. Already, I’ve been told it’s helped some Londoners, for example planning their daily run. I know it will take a while for everything to open safely so this feels like the most helpful and fun solution.
“We got some feedback from a London bus driver as well who said it was a godsend for his colleagues.”
Westminster City Council is one of London’s councils that has been working with Lockdown Loo to provide information on its open sites. All its public toilets are open, with the exception of Broadwick Street in Soho, and the council has removed the majority of charges. It’s also assigned more staff to maintain cleanliness and deter anti-social behaviour.
“As the city reopens to residents and visitors alike, it is essential that they can feel safe and confident to return,” a Westminster City Council spokesperson said in a statement. “Lockdown Loo is a great project to build this confidence in potential visitors as they can be certain of access to these facilities as they patronise our shops and businesses, and shortly, our hospitality sector too.”
Sir Caughtshort hopes to get to 200 public toilet listings by the weekend, with over 100 already live on the website. The site has been viewed over 4,000 times in only two days since going live. Now, he has his sights on taking the site nationwide, with aims to prioritise rural areas in particular. An extended map will go live on Saturday so if you’re not based in London, you can submit listings now ahead of the launch.
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“I’m pretty confident that when we launch nationally on Saturday, we will have nearly 1,000 locations nationwide.
“It is totally free to use. I want it to be people’s one-stop plop,” he adds.
Crowd-sourced websites have always been crucial ways to find out information when official channels are lax, but they’ve taken on a life of their own since the lockdown. One website, Takeawaypints.co.uk has been chronically the pubs and bars across the UK that allows patrons to enjoy drinks off the premises.
Creators Nick and Fede initially set up the website after finding a pub serving takeaway pints one Saturday and then found it closed the week after. The duo, who are full-time developers, built the website over a weekend with around 40 establishments they found advertising takeaway services on their respective websites, before opening it up to submissions on the Sunday.
Now, there’s over 1,200 pubs on the platform across the UK and Ireland, and yes, there’s information on whether the pub’s toilets are open for customers too. “The reception we’ve received from pubc, suppliers and customers has been great. I think quite a few pubs have been a little surprised to hear that it’s completely free to be added to the list and have sent their thanks via email,” explains Nick. “Likewise, we’ve received a lot of thank you messages from people that really fancied a cold pint on a sunny day while out on their walks.”
The duo are going to keep the site running until it is no longer needed. "We have a few ideas in mind as to how we could still be useful post-lockdown but nothing is set in stone so can't say when we will wind things down," adds Nick.
Until then, these websites will act as an essential public service for many during the coronavirus era.