The Importance Of Being Able To Access Public Toilets | #UseOurLoos

It wasn't really until I was pregnant with my boys and then after I became a Mum and had children old enough to use the potty and then toilet that I realised how important it is to 1. have toilets around whilst out and about and 2. know exactly where it is that they are. 

There have been countless amounts of times where we've been out and about and my boys have told me that they need to go urgently, despite us always making sure they use the loo before we go out anywhere in case we can't find a toilet nearby. It's particularly difficult when you hear that your little one needs to go to the toilet when you're in the middle of a shop or park area that doesn't have any public toilets or if you're walking past shops and restaurants that do have toilets but that only open them to their customers. There have been times when I've had no choice but to politely ask if we can use a business's toilet that we haven't been a customer of at the time, but I've generally felt awkward for doing so. 

There is a lack of council-run public toilets here in Milton Keynes, which means that the toilets that we're relying on to use whilst we're out and about are those inside of coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, shops and bars, which is generally fine when we're a customer of theirs, but what about the times when we're not? 

Domestos, the toilet cleaning brand, has recently conducted research into the demise of UK public toilets and have found that the number of council-run public toilets has decreased by a huge nearly 40 percent over the past two decades! And they understand that a lack of public toilets can create difficulties in daily life for many. To tackle this they have launched Use Our Loos, the first national community scheme to encourage businesses who don't already, to open up their loos to the public. 

To make going to the toilet whilst out and about easier for the public, coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, shops and bars opting to take part and open their toilet's to the public will proudly be displaying a 'Use Our Loos' sticker and will be shown on the Great British Public Toilet Map website (www.toiletmap.org.uk) which people can use to find the closest public toilets to them.

This is such a positive step in the right direction - not only will better access to toilets be important to so many, I personally believe that it will also create a mutual benefit for businesses too. I know myself that I am so much more likely to visit and re-visit somewhere that displays the Use Our Loos sticker and gives people access to their toilets as I feel it is a pretty positive indication of a friendly business who cares about the surrounding community and understands the need for people to have access to toilets whilst out and about. 

What are your thoughts on the #UseOurLoos campaign? Come and join in with the conversation over on Twitter using the hashtag #UseOurLoos to share your thoughts.

Thank you for reading.

  Alex xo 

*This post is in association with Domestos but all words and thought expressed are entirely my own.