England left with ‘toilet deserts’ as public facilities decline by 14% in a decade
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/20/england-left-with-toilet-deserts-as-public-facilities-decline-by-14-in-a-decade
211 points · 37 comments · view on lemmy.world
37 Comments
quandang@lemmy.world · 45 pts · 118d
I read this as toilet dessert and got confused
egrets@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 118d
You've never snacked on a urinal cake?
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 118d
Let them eat cake.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 117d
Came here to say this. To the guillotine with you!
nimisnimi@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 118d
The forbidden creme brulee
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 118d
I feel like it would be classified as a pudding for some reason. I watch a lot of British TV and still don’t understand their version of puddings.
egrets@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 118d
"Pudding" and "dessert" are pretty much synonymous in the UK, though it probably varies regionally. If someone said "pudding" in a dessert sense, they're more likely to be talking about a baked dish than, say, ice cream or pie.
"Pudding" is historically also a broader term, and can also describe some specific savoury dishes, but it's old fashioned.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 30 pts · 118d
That explains the increasing amounts of sewage detected in their waterways. Due to lack of public toilets, people go back do doing their business the old fashioned way.
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 29 pts · 118d
Have you been to a rest stop near the German Autobahn recently? The toilets charge 70 cents or 1 Euro (even just to pee). Because of those ridiculous prices all the truckers started going number 1 and 2 in the bushes years ago - It is seriously disgusting, you can't even take a dog for a walk there anymore.
zwerg@feddit.org · 9 pts · 118d
You take your dog for a walk by the autobahn? Are there not nicer places to go?
fartsparkles@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 118d
I assume they mean taking their dog for a walk when they stop at a rest stop. Dogs need the toilet during long journeys too.
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 3 pts · 118d
Yeah, I drive from Zurich to Northern Germany every other month.
jenesaisquoi@feddit.org · 2 pts · 118d
Consider taking the train, much more relaxed. And much cleaner. Zürich-Berlin or Zürich-Hamburg is just ~8h, and you can relax or work during that time.
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 4 pts · 118d
I would love to, unfortunatley the village I am heading to is pretty much disconnected from public transport and my parents don't drive anymore so it's better if I bring a car to run errands for them as well.
neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 118d
The autobahn is just a highway, so likely they're rest stops while traveling along the highway.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 118d
The noble goal of austerity comes
at a costcaked in shit.Damage@feddit.it · 1 pts · 117d
Yeah but it's refundable if you buy something
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 2 pts · 117d
Only partly and they refuse to accept multiple vouchers at once these days. As someone with a weak bladder and IBS I often collect 5 of these vouchers on an 7 hour drive so have my whole glove box stuffed with them by now*
socsa@piefed.social · 1 pts · 117d
You'd think that would just an per diem expense.
wax@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 117d
Idk, I would gladly pay 1€ for a clean toilet, even for peeing. If it costs money and is a pigsty on the other hand...
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 117d
Water costs money, electricity costs money, toilets cost money to maintain and people who clean them cost money.
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 8 pts · 117d
They make enough money from selling gas, food and coffee at a huge mark up. Pissing and shitting are basic human needs and should be free. It helps nobody that the grass and bushes are turned into a disgusting piss and fecal matter biosphere.
mech@feddit.org · -1 pts · 118d
You can't let your dog shit in the bushes because there's too much shit in the bushes?
Oh no!
comrade_twisty@feddit.org · 16 pts · 118d
I actually pick up my dogs poop when we go for walks, as does everyone in Switzerland. I don't know why that's so uncommon in other countries.
The point is, you can't take your dog for a walk around human feces - it's disgusting!
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 17 pts · 118d
No, that’s just the privately owned water utility companies dumping untreated shit in the rivers to save money for dividends. It’s free market efficiency, we’re told.
starchylemming@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 118d
thats how you get paris level public urination levels.
do you want that?
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 16 pts · 118d
In Manchester around Piccadilly Gardens the only remaining public toilets are in the Arndale Centre, so when the pubs empty out and that’s all closed up there are no public toilets. But there are the glass fronts of corporate offices in quiet backstreets.
lobut@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 118d
Apropos of nothing. I was dying for a piss at Piccadilly Circus in London late at night and I saw a public toilet entrance. I approached it and this random bloke was standing there asking I'd I wanted a blowjob for a tenner. I said, no thanks. Then he gave me a look, and said I'm not going to be doing it! I still said, yeah but no thanks still. He then said, fine, £5. I was like, I'm not looking for a discount here buddy.
Anyways, I walked away and had to hold it till I got to the station. I assume he had mates or something at the toilets that were gonna mug me or something when I got in.
Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 117d
In Vancouver, BC. There are public toilets here. Big self cleaning stainless steel boxes on the sidewalk. Go in, have your piss. Except there's also a huge drugged out street population too. So I'm walking Robeson St and I see a wasted guy pissing on the outside of the toilet in broad daylight. I'm like, he's missing the mark in more ways than one!
mbp@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 117d
Man probably had a family at home; just out living life
B0rax@feddit.org · 12 pts · 118d
You guys have public toilets?
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 117d
They do have one of the World's most popular gender neutral public toilets
justlemmyin@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 118d
Maybe we should just privatize the public toilets, that should fix the problem.
Sasquatch@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 117d
Toilet desserts? we talkin urinal cakes?
unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth · 5 pts · 118d
Meanwhile Germans are going: "wait, that's not the norm?"
Etterra@discuss.online · 4 pts · 117d
They have public bathrooms? Lucky.
KenOh@feddit.online · 1 pts · 117d
I read this as "public fatalities" and got confused