Toilet talk reveals a variety of attitudes

As the pub industry prepares for yet more Government intervention, my mind wandered to a particularly British topic, says Stephen Crawley. Not the weather, but toilets!

I recall the intention of the new UK owners of an Indian brewery to build a shiny block of toilets for everybody's use. The protocol had been the lowest ranking workers did their stuff in the woods, the middle ranking had a screen for privacy and management had toilets (though probably not fit for purpose even for a uninvested British pub on the verge of closure.) The senior management was quite distressed at the prospect of sharing the new facilities.

Here in the UK, the policy enforcers seem very concerned about our sanitary experience — especially when it comes to licensed premises. Sharing seems a no-no — not as bad as India but…

It seems the UK thinking is that pub/restaurant customers need masses of space for toilet visits — they need to stand next to empty cubicles in the gents.

I obviously cannot comment on UK ladies toilets, but it is incredible that overseas they have noticed a toilet can actually cope with gents standing or sitting and ladies sitting.

I revisited the Old Sailor in Amsterdam recently and it was obvious the toilet (think it was still just one) had been refurbished (last visit 1988), but there was no increased toilet provision and diminished capacity as a result.

Bars in Manhattan, (quite a sophisticated food and drink environment) often seem to manage with just two or three unisex toilets.

Aboard planes at 30,000 feet or rattling along on a crowded British train (and there is plenty of food and drink), the environment is not unlike a civilised bar at times and yet both male and female UK citizens share toilets (with standing or sitting — optional!).

Maybe the sanitary industry is more important than the British pub?

Maybe the Government might have to add a warning on the glass — too many of these and you might have to go to the loo.

The toilet provisions, though, have at least increased exercise in the pub as operators have put toilets miles away upstairs so as not to reduce capacity.

Why are our regulations so different? They seem daft at times — but then the understanding of our industry seems still to be lacking in many quarters. There is work to be done!