How to dry your hands

Aussie hand-dryer/ drier/ dria/ drya/ dryahr/ dry air

This is how the Aussies do it, neatly illustrated with a helpful diagram of those two down-under icons - kangaroo and emu. Symbiotic relationship perhaps.

Greyhound street nottingham

For many years there was a cathedral scale public toitet within Slab Square in Nottingham. It was open 24 / 7 and was very conveniently situated. When Slab Square was re - furbished, regenerated and re - organised following a notable lack of demand from the people of Nottingham, the convenience area was used to store water for the newly installed water feature. The new toilets are in the not easy to find Greyhound Street. Appreciably smaller than their predecessor and with reduced opening hours. The toilets are generally clean and feature hand dryers that emit a blue ray when in operation.

The Betjeman Arms at St Pancras

Saint Pancras station has had its fair share of praise and criticism since its reopening in November 2007 as London's terminal for European trains. The toilets have not escaped from such commentary, with some contributors feeling that too little thought has been given to the pennyspending needs of recently arrived travelers, just-browsing and actively-consuming shoppers, greeters of friends and family, and other visitors. The line for the ladies often stretches out to a leg-crossing length.

Such openly available (or not) public toilet provision is not our present concern. Let's take a closer look at some of the establishments offering refreshment to the weary traveler or indeed any paying customer. To be sure, Saint Pancras is a station built for the customer rather than the passenger. Grade A shopping centre it surely is, but as a station for passengers it doesn't quite reach such heights. Where should our passenger friends be heading to warm those chilly cockles? The answer doesn't lie at the waiting room (there isn't one, unless you're a first-class traveling EMT customer and don't mind a long walk to your train). No, at St Pancras you must exercise your consumer jaw in order to qualify for warmth and comfort. One such venue is The Betjeman Arms, former site of The Shires Bar, of St Pancras old. The Betjeman Arms tries very hard, perhaps too hard in places, to offer a homely, bohemian drinking and dining experience. The rather surreal interior includes a pantry that isn't actually a pantry but rather a Disney-esque pastiche that serves as a dining room. The Dining Room proper is a more attractive affair that nearly strikes a good balance between showing off the St Pancras Chambers interior and providing such mod cons as lighting, water sprinklers and air con. Where it fails is execution of the latter facilities. Bracing for the lighting and air con units is messy and untidily trimmed, and accompanying pipework is installed with a lack of care or pride over the finish. Unfortunately, the low-level curtains block off any view of St Pancras's once-rival, King's Cross. The bar itself is a Wetherspoons with a bigger budget, and worthy of no further comment.

The toilets, or loos as they're signed, are accessed through the dining room along a corridor that can sometimes be accessed directly from the outdoor seating area. By far the best feature of the Betjeman Arms is this large and pleasant area of seating where drinkers can admire St Pancras and observe the comings and goings of European travelers.

A walk down the toilet corridor yields no immediate results, as you discover that the toilet entrance doors are concealed within the wall. What delights await our intrepid and curious toileteer inside this unexpected entrance? Well, not much really. These are some seriously small toilets for such a venue. Once the feeling of entering the cleaning cupboard has passed, the surrounds can be taken in. To the right are three very closely spaced urinals. Co-pisser splashback potential is huge here - watch those light trousers. Directly in front of the entrance are two doors. Two cubicles on first sight, but on closer inspection one cubicle and one locked cupboard. One sink to the left caters for this mini convenience. This very small area could very quickly become congested. And one hefty brown-chucker could cripple the sit-down facilities completely.

To be continued....

In future reviews, we'll be writing about:

Overall hygiene

Sink - type of taps

Type of soap

Dryer - towels, blower, type of blower

Refurbishment provides for a superior welcome break at The Driver

King's Cross doesn't have a great reputation for cleanliness and comfort, particularly in the toilet department. But change is afoot, recent developments at St Pancras and King's Place (more of which in later posts) have shown us that there is hope for a better toilet experience. However, smaller places are doing their bit too, and that's where The Driver comes in. Having recently undergone an extensive refurbishment, this fine pub and restaurant now boasts decent loos to match.

Located in a new basement area, accessed by a wide and easily navigable staircase, the toilets are walled by varnished brick. Coupled with the cosily low and warm lighting levels, the environment is somewhat reminiscent (minus the piped in comedy) of that found in The Angelic just a stone's throw away. Exposed pipework and simple but sturdy fittings are the order of the day, with good quality soap provided, and decent hygiene standards.

Watch this space for ratings

Things that contribute to a good toilet experience

According to one of our esteemed contributors - McLirch - this is what makes (or breaks) a good toilet visit:

1) foam soap
2) high speed hand dryers (the pub at Kings Cross station has these)
3) buttons to press
4) toilet graffiti?!

Sites of interest

Here are some existing sites that we'll be taking some inspiration from. Frankly, though we're more interested in their shortcomings. How come there isn't a decent searchable site where I can find the best bog where I'm currently based?

Last Rounds - Pretty good site, as far as opening times go for (a limited range of) public bogs go. Reviews however are left to users of the site, so there's very little information to go on before you make your visit.

Where's The Toilet? - This is a North American based website. Their layout and approach hits the mark though, and they've got some good tourist London loo reviews.

Go London - Lists 10 bogs that are close to London tourist attractions.

Blue Badge Guides- Commentary on London Assembly report into public toilets in London (or the lack of them) from 2005.

See-Through-Loo - This is just ace.

What's it all about?

This blog is all about where you can spend a penny in style. Want to know where to find the best loos in town, and which ones to avoid? Then this is the place to be. Welcome