Blog Tracker
15-02-2023, 09:07
Visit The Pub Curmudgeon site (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/02/hold-it-in.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCnlHwkZdptNt1bmQV-Py4i1zDyCU4cBZGqANFripLOT5HJy_JVKhdZ9t9JQexOugaegf dchTIHId2OsTQUxe23oN51gLMXi18n3Y1lRB3Vv5KB2waxLEv5 78wvh88qErRRhKsKbUGT4wFbH92Pft-QilhI4LQ9jy5Aa-jl_D4L8zynyUMmzPoujG/s320/pass%20no%20solids.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCnlHwkZdptNt1bmQV-Py4i1zDyCU4cBZGqANFripLOT5HJy_JVKhdZ9t9JQexOugaegf dchTIHId2OsTQUxe23oN51gLMXi18n3Y1lRB3Vv5KB2waxLEv5 78wvh88qErRRhKsKbUGT4wFbH92Pft-QilhI4LQ9jy5Aa-jl_D4L8zynyUMmzPoujG/s800/pass%20no%20solids.jpg)
Simon Everitt (https://simeyeveritt.wixsite.com/brapa/blog) recently spotted this sign on his GBG ticking travels in the Split Chimp micropub in Whitley Bay, Northumberland. It comes across as remarkably prissy, it can’t practically be enforced, and it’s frankly unrealistic to expect customers to adhere to it. I have heard of people deliberately arranging their routines so that they can perform their bowel movements in Wetherspoon’s, but surely if someone needs one while visiting a micropub it’s not something they had planned and they don’t have that much control over the timing.
It also illustrates a wider problem with the single-WC pub or bar, which has become much more common with the rise of micropubs and other shop conversions in recent years. When I was at school I vaguely remember studying Queuing Theory in Maths. I’ve forgotten most of it, but one bit that did stick was that reducing the number of outlets would have a much greater impact on the maximum queuing time than the average.
A single WC may be acceptable in a café, but in a bar, where customers are likely to linger more, and where they’re consuming a product known for its diuretic and laxative properties, it’s likely to become problematical. If someone needs to occupy the single trap for ten minutes or more (which, without going into details, can happen) then other customers may be put in a very awkward and embarrassing position.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to want it banned under planning regulations, as a point of principle I won’t give my custom to any bar with a single WC. The tiny Circus Tavern in Manchester city centre manages to provide separate ladies’ and gents’ toilets, with a trap and a couple of urinals in the gents’, so why should they be any different? This is not a question of toilets being unisex (that’s a separate issue), but of the overall level of provision being seriously inadequate.
I have been told that planning rules state that, if you want to provide more than a single WC, one of them has be accessible to the disabled, which is reasonable enough in theory, but in practice may deter, or physically prevent, bar owners from expanding provision even if they feel it’s insufficient. The best becomes the enemy of the good.
On the other hand, of course, the much-derided Wetherspoon’s are noted for their ample toilet provision, although it can be something of a hike to get there. Plus they win numerous awards for toilet hygiene.
More... (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/02/hold-it-in.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCnlHwkZdptNt1bmQV-Py4i1zDyCU4cBZGqANFripLOT5HJy_JVKhdZ9t9JQexOugaegf dchTIHId2OsTQUxe23oN51gLMXi18n3Y1lRB3Vv5KB2waxLEv5 78wvh88qErRRhKsKbUGT4wFbH92Pft-QilhI4LQ9jy5Aa-jl_D4L8zynyUMmzPoujG/s320/pass%20no%20solids.jpg (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCnlHwkZdptNt1bmQV-Py4i1zDyCU4cBZGqANFripLOT5HJy_JVKhdZ9t9JQexOugaegf dchTIHId2OsTQUxe23oN51gLMXi18n3Y1lRB3Vv5KB2waxLEv5 78wvh88qErRRhKsKbUGT4wFbH92Pft-QilhI4LQ9jy5Aa-jl_D4L8zynyUMmzPoujG/s800/pass%20no%20solids.jpg)
Simon Everitt (https://simeyeveritt.wixsite.com/brapa/blog) recently spotted this sign on his GBG ticking travels in the Split Chimp micropub in Whitley Bay, Northumberland. It comes across as remarkably prissy, it can’t practically be enforced, and it’s frankly unrealistic to expect customers to adhere to it. I have heard of people deliberately arranging their routines so that they can perform their bowel movements in Wetherspoon’s, but surely if someone needs one while visiting a micropub it’s not something they had planned and they don’t have that much control over the timing.
It also illustrates a wider problem with the single-WC pub or bar, which has become much more common with the rise of micropubs and other shop conversions in recent years. When I was at school I vaguely remember studying Queuing Theory in Maths. I’ve forgotten most of it, but one bit that did stick was that reducing the number of outlets would have a much greater impact on the maximum queuing time than the average.
A single WC may be acceptable in a café, but in a bar, where customers are likely to linger more, and where they’re consuming a product known for its diuretic and laxative properties, it’s likely to become problematical. If someone needs to occupy the single trap for ten minutes or more (which, without going into details, can happen) then other customers may be put in a very awkward and embarrassing position.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to want it banned under planning regulations, as a point of principle I won’t give my custom to any bar with a single WC. The tiny Circus Tavern in Manchester city centre manages to provide separate ladies’ and gents’ toilets, with a trap and a couple of urinals in the gents’, so why should they be any different? This is not a question of toilets being unisex (that’s a separate issue), but of the overall level of provision being seriously inadequate.
I have been told that planning rules state that, if you want to provide more than a single WC, one of them has be accessible to the disabled, which is reasonable enough in theory, but in practice may deter, or physically prevent, bar owners from expanding provision even if they feel it’s insufficient. The best becomes the enemy of the good.
On the other hand, of course, the much-derided Wetherspoon’s are noted for their ample toilet provision, although it can be something of a hike to get there. Plus they win numerous awards for toilet hygiene.
More... (https://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2023/02/hold-it-in.html)