The Victorian public loo

When you have got to go you have to go but some of the places where Londoners used to go have gone.

The Victorians were great pioneers of the public loo but most of their pristine little palaces of hygiene are in a sorry state today. Lots of them are now under lock and key, decaying gracefully, well away from public view. It takes a determined soul to breach the defences and step into this hidden world.  A determined soul in fact, like Celia Stothard, who recently embarked on an unlikely love affair with a deserted lavatory in Kennington.

Celia managed to get a few locals together, a neighbour spoke with the local authority, one handily had some bolt cutters, and they cut through the padlocks and chains and got in. Celia and her neighbours liberated the loo after 18 years of neglect. Celia explains why she loves this place:

 

"This area and this building is a reflection of Victorian engineering and social values and it's at the heart of the community.  Its where the big estates over there and the Georgian squares over there all come together along the big roads.  So it"s a real meeting place for communities and its kind of showplace for what people cared about a hundred years ago.  Its all manufactured locally.  It was made by, B Finch & Co Sanitary Engineers of Lambeth.

 It’s a little local Lambeth manufactured gem which reflects what the area used to be about."

 

And as for the future? Celia reports: "Some people would like it to be a lavatory again but you would have to have an attendant, there is no disabled access so we can't do that so we're negotiating to take the lease from Lambeth and turn it is into an arts and heritage exhibition and events venue so it will still be, all these wonderful urinals will be kept but we might make a bit of space by removing one of the three lavs and local artists, of which there are many, would like to have modern installations, we can have sound installations, schools can use it to learn about engineering or society.  Its going to be, I hope, a high profile space that brings people here and shows everybody what great things are going on in Kennington and Lambeth that nobody knows about because they just roar through.  So we hope its going to offer real opportunities for local people to show what they do.  And I hope, also, that it makes so much money it can fund a new loo above ground and that will keep everyone happy."

 

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