York: Spending a penny is costing businesses 'thousands'

Associate Director at Browns of York, Angela Horner, says the problem is causing the business several thousand pounds a year

Businesses in York say demand for city centre toilet facilities is costing them thousands of pounds a year due to a lack of public loos.

Angela Horner from Browns estimated three-quarters of people using the department store's toilets each year were not customers.

Traders say the shortage leaves people reliant on the goodwill of businesses.

City of York Council said it felt the 11 sites it operates across the city "reflects the demand".

Ms Horner said: "We don't want to be unwelcoming to people that want to come in and use our facilities, but at the same time the usage that our toilets get is too much and it causes us a lot of problems.

"We have to spend more money on cleaning products and toilet roll [and] myself and my colleagues have to go in regularly and unblock toilets and urinals and clear up some quite unpleasant things.

"There is a big impact to our business financially, it runs into several thousands of pounds."

Jenny Layfield, Chief Executive at York Explore suggests people make a donation when using the library's toilets

Jenny Layfield, chief executive of York Explore, which runs the public library on Museum Street, said around 250,000 people used their toilets in the last year.

"I think it's difficult to find the public toilets, there aren't many," she said.

"I think there needs to be better signposting to those we've got and better quality for those that are there."

Ms Horner said a number of traders had come together to form a "toilet taskforce" to try and resolve the issue.

She said factors including the 40p charge at council-run facilities and the early closing time were putting people off using them.

"To think the council is going to pop up and build a shiny toilet block is not realistic, the council don't have the budget, so we need to look at other solutions," she said.

In a statement City of York Council said no local authority was legally obligated to provide public toilets "but in York we do".

"Over eight million tourists visit York on an average year and the council provides a number of public toilets which reflects this demand," a spokesperson said.

"We absolutely recognise that there is always more we can do to improve facilities in York and we maintain an ongoing dialogue with businesses who benefit from our visitors to increase toilet provision on an ongoing basis."