Newcastle's Missing Public Toilets

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  • Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
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    This video takes a look at the history of Newcastle's public toilets. These have had a significant rise and fall. There are currently no public toilets available within Newcastle city centre.
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    A full-time planner, Jordan Reeve specialises in creating videos about the built environment to tell its stories. The topics cover the historical development of cities alongside psychogeography-style walks, which aims to uncover the urban environment as well as pose questions about the space and place in which we live, work, and play. He lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne and attempts to showcase the modern face of a former industrial city, which is still finding its way in regeneration.
    #newcastlehistory #publictoilets #newcastledocumentary

Комментарии • 50

  • @shaoandy
    @shaoandy Год назад +11

    Great video. It’s a shame so many public toilets have been lost. I remember a campaign a few years ago where businesses put “feel free to use our loo” signs up in their windows (not sure if they’re still there). While not a great substitute for proper public toilets it was good to be reassured you won’t be shouted at if you use somewhere’s loo without spending money there. One worth mentioning is the Victorian toilets at central station - they’re pretty special.

  • @tbc8954
    @tbc8954 Год назад +6

    Noticed recently that they seem to have removed a lot of the bins in the city, coincidentally at the same time as an increase in council officers handing on the spot fines for littering etc.

  • @redcalx9568
    @redcalx9568 Год назад +12

    HI Im 48 and can still smell the Elden carpark loo at the top of the escalators opposite Argos

  • @DannyBoy00X
    @DannyBoy00X Год назад +5

    The lack of toilets in the city and being a street photographer (mostly at night time) is becoming more and more problematic. I need to start to dehydrate myself from around lunch time!

    • @JordanReeve
      @JordanReeve  Год назад +1

      Honestly mate I do the same when I’m out filming. Wake up and don’t drink too much water is my go to

  • @Alex-cw3rz
    @Alex-cw3rz 11 месяцев назад +1

    Great videos and indepth and well researched information

  • @OriginalPeterPan
    @OriginalPeterPan 5 месяцев назад +1

    Absolutely shocking what Newcastle Council have decided regarding the demolition of Public Toilets. Theres over 5000 Public and Private taxis in this small city. Many of these drivers working night shift along with hundreds of delivery drivers from Uber eats. Where do these drivers go while working around the city? Its outrageous Newcastle Council allowed this to happen. It is a major problem that gets overlooked.

  • @geordieurbex2200
    @geordieurbex2200 Год назад +4

    Ive been told the ones infront of pilgrim street fire station are still there, can only be reached by a drain in the road. I also read that years ago there was alot of creeps nd dodgy stuff going on in some of the toilets forcing them to close

  • @srhwilliams97
    @srhwilliams97 Год назад +4

    Never heard of the urinary leash before, interesting concept!

    • @xr6lad
      @xr6lad Год назад

      Think it’s fictional. Sounds like some sad little activist trying to shoehorn a modern interpretation to something. It will simply be that there were less woman in public life and being a prudish time mainly men run councils didn’t discuss woman’s bodily functions.

    • @srhwilliams97
      @srhwilliams97 Год назад

      @@xr6lad Interesting that you state 'mainly men run councils' didn't like to discuss women's bodily functions, they love to do it these days! I would say that urinary leash is a great term to provide a label for an old problem, one that raises awareness of a long withstanding issue. We must reflect on the past so that we can advocate for positive future change.

  • @1258-Eckhart
    @1258-Eckhart Год назад +2

    We have the same thing in Munich and I think for the same reason. There's a tendency for the council to lease the erstwhile walk-in facilities to a company called Sanifair which charges you around 1 € (it varies) at the turnstile (but everything is much cleaner). The provision of toilets in private premises and on trains has hugely increased since Victorian times, though.

    • @kelsogirl562
      @kelsogirl562 Год назад

      Wow - €1 to use the loo. I'm old enough to remember when the phrase "spend a penny" was relevant so it's now 100 times more expensive. Never thought inflation would affect going to the toilet.

  • @stephencrossman9402
    @stephencrossman9402 11 месяцев назад +1

    The only council toilets that I know off are in the Grainger Market otherwise it's shops or Eldon Square.

  • @zeddeka
    @zeddeka Месяц назад

    A lot of the toilets in Newcastle, as in pretty nuch every other city back then, had fairly grim reputations. For example, in 1979 it was reported in the papers that the police had raided toilets on the Quayside and broken a gang of "rent boys" who were operating out of those toilets and also robbing a lot of their clients. The Quayside was described as a "twilight world" back then, and it was. It's very much forgotten how sleazy cities were back then. Prostitution was certainly much more visible in Newcastle than it is now.

  • @TheWeardale1
    @TheWeardale1 Год назад +2

    i used to go in the northumberland arms as the toilets were before you went to the bar...
    i'm surprised there's no touist information centre there, unless that's changed in recent years...

    • @JordanReeve
      @JordanReeve  Год назад

      I think everyone has their fave toilets in town. Can’t beat the Baltic when your down the quayside

  • @silkdestroyer
    @silkdestroyer 3 месяца назад

    Whenever I'm in any town, if I need a loo I now look for a bookies shop, which are fairly common. I'll go in and, if busy, I'll just head straight to the loo. If it's quiet, I'll feign interest in the racing papers for a few minutes and then use the loo.
    I think that I have lost enough money in those places over the years to not feel too much guilt!
    I agree that women may be more reluctant to use those premises.

  • @Vince_uk
    @Vince_uk Год назад +1

    Very True

  • @jimmyoconnell6167
    @jimmyoconnell6167 Год назад +4

    There was loads of public toilets but they were dodgy full of cottagers 😅

    • @YourBeingParanoid
      @YourBeingParanoid Год назад

      Oi who you calling dodgy?

    • @stevezpj
      @stevezpj 11 месяцев назад +1

      There was definitely a decline after the George Michael arrest in LA :D

    • @YourBeingParanoid
      @YourBeingParanoid 11 месяцев назад +1

      @@stevezpj I found the opposite was true. You'd be surprised what goes on in Newcastle, be that gay, straight, bi or just try

    • @stevezpj
      @stevezpj 11 месяцев назад

      @@YourBeingParanoid I mean a decline in toilets, not what went on in them :D George Michael's arrest definitely made cottaging a common term that most didn't know beforehand so I think that led to getting rid of quite a few public toilets as more people got into it. Like dogging - bloody everywhere you go now is a dogging site!

    • @YourBeingParanoid
      @YourBeingParanoid 11 месяцев назад +2

      @@stevezpj the public toilet decline in recent times was a lot to do with cut backs under the libcons and then the Tories. With the invention of the internet, an openly accessible gay scene as well as saunas and swingers clubs, the cottaging situation just became something different.
      The old cruising sites became housing estates and wasteland cleared of old broken building shells and dangerous overgrowth.
      I miss the 90s 😂

  • @dylancarter1831
    @dylancarter1831 5 месяцев назад

    I was typing for videos for Newcastle shops and city centres for nostalgia for the old days and somehow it wound up recommending this video. It is a shame public toilets were closed, but I remember by the late 90s, early 2000s, it was also being used by druggies and people looking to hook up for sex. Also budget reasons too. Whenever I visit Newcastle city centre I just now dive into the shopping centre.

  • @Thetoon25
    @Thetoon25 5 месяцев назад

    What in the world has the thumb nail of the top of Grays Monument got to do with public toilets?

  • @wrichard11
    @wrichard11 Год назад

    Newcastle council provides lavatories in Grainger market

  • @jimmyoconnell6167
    @jimmyoconnell6167 Месяц назад

    The worst bogs were on the corner of Malborough crescent police were always dragging the cottagers out I remember old and a young man was stuck up his arse and strangling him.at the time 😅😅 police pull them apart 😅

  • @YourBeingParanoid
    @YourBeingParanoid Год назад +1

    All public toilets (and those in shops) will be used for men to look at other's bits - mainly married bi guys. This has been going on for as long as men have had bits. These days, the internet and open LGBTQ+ venues have cut it down but it will always be there as quite a few people aren't out or are just dabbling.
    You should google videos of gay toilets in Newcastle's Bigg Market to know why I'd never go in that new bar for a drink

    • @voiceofraisin3778
      @voiceofraisin3778 5 месяцев назад +1

      If you go to the Theatre in Newcastle you come to Shakespeare street.
      The public toilet there was infamous for the more theatrical gentleman looking to find companionship in the pre-swipe right era that it became known as Anne Hathaways cottage.

  • @PARALLEL7_Vegan_Street_food
    @PARALLEL7_Vegan_Street_food 11 месяцев назад

    thre used to be toilets by st james park

  • @Jeffybonbon
    @Jeffybonbon Год назад +1

    as an ex city cop in the 1980s the toilets were used by the Gays who would meet men The Town moor had i think four toilets and when the night clubs finished at 2am the moor was alive with gay guys cruising today thank god the world has moved on and gay men can be out with out a great number of problems The Police used vice officers to catch the guys in the toilets and thats why a lot went they were horrible places to be honest glad to see the back of them

  • @trevorashworth7307
    @trevorashworth7307 11 месяцев назад

    When you are in to your seventies you need public toilets,otherwise you think twice about going any distance.around Newcastle.

  • @johnpaulgleason7929
    @johnpaulgleason7929 Год назад

    Jordan that's a cracking video, different subject, but very noticeable lack of them in Newcastle. Worthy of covering that is for sure. I never knew about a few of them old public spaces! now I do, good to know :)
    Sadly it wouldn't surprise me if one day we have pay to use public toilets like in London and Manchester, which are hell on earth to use.... the smell..... and having to be desperate enough to pay hard earned cash to do something you have no option but to do! Talk about alienating the poor.

  • @rain_down_
    @rain_down_ Год назад +1

    Interesting. I'm hardly in town after hours, but I guess people use alleyways or places like McDonalds for their options. I think also that public toilets in city centres attract drug problems at night as well as other 'activities!' It would be good to have some paid options, though, with security and servicing. I have my favourite in shopping hours, but not going to reveal it!

  • @clarkeysam
    @clarkeysam Год назад +3

    Could the reduction in public toilets also be related to the public's/government's attitude at the time towards LGBTQ+ people, given that they were known locations for people to hook up?

    • @JordanReeve
      @JordanReeve  Год назад +3

      That’s an interesting point which I didn’t cover. Could definitely be a contributing factor

    • @clarkeysam
      @clarkeysam Год назад +2

      @@JordanReeve that's just a total guess by me. I have no evidence or reason to think it's accurate, but I'm friends with gay pensioner who said public toilets were notorious "cruising" places.

    • @boredsund
      @boredsund Год назад +4

      No, you're absolutely right. Whether the councils care to admit it or not, a lot were decomissioned due to the illegal activity between men that took place in them. It was particularly rife in the times before internet (obviously), or with men who were meeting in secret (married, closeted etc). There were numerous notorious"cottages", probably the most notorious being the Bigg Market, and it was (ahem) "used" right up until it closed. Of course it's not just the s*x aspect, the closure of public toilets also diminishes Dr*g use in them. Great video though Jordan, there's nothing worse than needing to go and nowhere to be able to, especially after 5pm!

    • @xr6lad
      @xr6lad Год назад +1

      I thought the same specially in parks etc plus druggies plus homeless. But tbh the former with things like Grindr would rarely happen today - different generation now. As for the latter i don’t know.

  • @xr6lad
    @xr6lad Год назад

    I’m going to go out on a limb and say even as a man - most of those old time toilets were likely mainly ‘men only’ given it being a man’s world. I don’t think it’s anything about a leash - that’s a stupid modern activist interpretation. It would have simply been that men and the world being very prudish simply didn’t want to think or discuss woman having to go to a ‘toilet’. It was something ‘gentile’ people didn’t discuss like many body functions back then.

    • @LollipopLozzy454545
      @LollipopLozzy454545 11 месяцев назад

      My dude, nobody thought that women didn't shit or piss.