For a nation whose humour firmly rests in the smallest room in the house, we have more than a little trouble talking about that special place everyone keeps their porcelain throne.
The WC, powder room, bog, can, loo or khazi is arguably the most important room in any house and has been since the 1919s when these wonderful inventions started coming inside. But away from the warmth of your own private chamber what happens if you find yourself out in town having supped one too many a cappuccino.
If you had found yourself in need of a ‘little boys’ room pre 2013 (you’d have had no choice but to hot foot it down to The Cattle Market car park where Frome’s only public toilets remain. But now, thanks to the current town council there are toilets available for use all over Frome, and it’s your right to use them, no grappling around trying to find a penny, Frome Town Council has paid for you!
The idea behind the community toilet is a simple one, if you find yourself needing the loo in Frome town centre, there are several businesses that are happy to open their doors and allow you to spend a penny with them. Frome Town Council are always looking for new businesses to join the scheme, but to date, the following have signed up:
Cheese and Grain • The George • Costa • Crocker and Woods • La Strada • Paccamora • Old Bath Arms • Plus The Town Council Offices.
Frome Mayor, Peter Macfadyen a champion of the community toilet scheme, is delighted at the ongoing success of the project. He said, “Mendip closed the six public toilets –still dotted around town – some years ago and left only the central car park one with limited opening hours – this was a significant issue both for visitors and residents.
“Whilst these toilets were in operation Frome Town Council paid rent to Mendip for their use, so there was spare money available, but no service or facilities for the people, the council were committed to wiping out the problem.”
The current town council decided to implement a Community Toilet Scheme in 2012, and since then have been flushing out suitable businesses to open and advertise their toilets as available for the public.
The mayor added, “The pilot scheme has been really successful, saving money and providing more public toilet access than any other town in Southern Europe; we are delighted in the take up by local businesses.”
Over the next few weeks the community toilet scheme will be promoted heavily: on the town websites, on new visitor maps, better signage at all the businesses involved and at a public event soon to be revealed.
Taking the community toilet scheme one step further, Peter Macfadyen has arranged for most of the community toilets to twin with toilets in Africa through charities Cord and Tearfund. These charities raise money to pay for toilets to be built in places where they simply don’t exist.
