Designing London’s Recovery

Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey. 

We’ve analysed what you told us and shared this with City Hall’s Economic Strategy & Innovation team. Between March and November 2022, they worked with the Royal College of Art’s Public Toilets Research Unit to improve public toilets in London. Their team of innovators took part in City Hall’s Designing London’s Recovery challenge to find creative solutions to issues in the capital and help re-build London after the pandemic.  

Here’s what the Royal College of Art said about our survey:  

Below is summary of what you told us: 

Availability of public toilets

Over half of you (59%) said that you don’t have public toilets in your high street or local town centre. Only 31% of you said that you have public toilets in your local area and 10% of you didn’t know. 

Of those of you who have no public toilets in their town centre, over half of you (59%) said that you limit how long you spend in an area due to a lack of public toilets. 9% of you will even try to avoid the area completely.  

Most of you (80%) felt that there was a “great need” for more public toilets in London (if maintained to a usable standard) and a further 18% said there was “some need.” Only 1% of you felt that there was no real need.  

Using public toilets

For those of you with public toilets in your high street or local town centre, 43% of you use them sometimes. Only 18% of you use the regularly. 22% of you hardly use them and 17% of you never use them at all. 

Standard of public toilets in London

Opinion among you divides on the standards of public toilets in London. When asked to rate the public toilets in your local town centre, 46% of you said that they were good, but 44% of you said that they were poor. 

Concerns about using public toilets

For those of you unlikely to use public toilets, your biggest concern is the cleanliness (49%). 39% of you prefer to use toilets in cafes or businesses instead. Nearly a third of you (30%) said that public toilets are not always open when you want to use them. You were also concerned about paying to use them (25%) as well as your safety in public toilets (23%).

Using public toilets at night

Only around 9% of you said that there are public toilets near you that are open at night. Of those of you that have access to public toilets at night, 63% of you said that you would sometimes or always use these – a similar proportion to the number who use public toilets during the day (61%).  

However, those of you who are hesitant to use public toilets have greater concerns about using them at night-time. You are much more likely to feel concerned about your safety in public toilets at night-time (42%) than during the day (23%). You are also more likely to want to use toilets in businesses or cafes at night (56%) than during the day (39%). You also have slightly more concerns about the cleanliness of public toilets at night (53%) than during the daytime (49%).  

The Mayor’s Designing London’s Recovery programme came to an end on 4 November 2022 with a show and tell meeting. The Royal College of Art presented their research to their cohort taking part in the programme, as well as a panel of experts and wider stakeholders.  

The team of innovators are now compiling a report on their findings, which will use data gathered from our survey. The report will recommend how different organisations can work together to create better public toilets in London. It will be published shortly on the london.gov.uk website.  

The team will be seeking funding and partnerships over the next few months to help them set up a consultancy that brings organisations together to create better public toilet provision in London and the UK.