PEE'D AFF - A Public Inconvenience 

I remember as a boy I was fascinated by the public toilets all over the city, they were always very well kept, smelled so clean and the carbolic soap would kill %110 of germs, what amazed me most was the craftsmanship of the tiling/plumbing and to think all these public toilets are concreted over and nothing has ever replaced them as if we all of a sudden just stopped peeing.

It's the same in Edinburgh: when they shut down most of their public toilets, they said you could use council buildings, such as sports & leisure facilities and libraries - then promptly started restricting their hours! In the City Centre, many people used them in Department Stores, but most of them have also since shut down. Many bus stations have shut down, and railway station facilities have long since been demolished. And those that do remain - well, why those ones? The really disgusting one in Bath Street, just across the road from Portobello Town Hall (plus two more on the seafront). The seafront ones are understandable, but why just Portobello Town Centre? Why not Corstorphine, Canonmills, Leith, Morningside, Gorgie, Granton, Newhaven, Silverknowes, Colinton, Juniper Green, Currie, Sighthill, Gimerton and many other suburbs that had them, but where they have now been closed and not replaced? Meanwhile, another disgusting example remains on the topmost corner of Bruntisfield Links - and again, with no obvious short-term parking spaces nearby, you have to ask why? Why there - when there were much better facilities elsewhere that got the chop? Meanwhile, the health pudits continue to advocate we drink lots of water - and the councils impose on-the-spot fines if you're caught doing it in the street...!

The public toilets at the beach in Aberdeen are lovely too. They're still open.

The public toilet in St Andrews is now a residence . No doubt many others will follow suit . We should organise a PE-ED AFF campaign. That toilet with the tiles is awesome . Some toilets have their practical uses and others are aesthetic temples.

Talking of pee’d , I have to pause you for a min or 2 😂😂😂

Thanks Ed, I've lived in southeast England for 40+ years and I'm glad to say I don't have the same issues in my local village or town.

Very interesting this one Eddie, I’m now approaching an age when the “never pass up the opportunity……” adage has never been more apt. Public toilets are few and far between and all new ones appear to lack materials that can cope with moisture and most importantly air flow. They ain’t welcoming, I could go on but you’ve covered it beautifully. I live in hope that one day when visiting my sons in Glasgow our paths will cross, but I’ve yet to see you in and around Partick👍😉

Thanks Ed for bringing to our attention the gradual reduction in public facilities and even public space. The facilities must be revamped. The alleged use of these facilities for the drug related activates, may been a problem. The short to medium term solution to that problem is decriminalization and provision of safe use facilities. The long term real solution is to create a society in which young people have hope and purpose in life, a useful meaningful role in society. The Westminster ruling oligarchy will block this at every turn. We need to get out of the UK!!

The issue is one of expectations. There used to be many jobs of low status and absolute necessity, that made society function and added to the joy of nations. The public park resident groundsman. The railway porter. The lavatory attendant. Spending the first 20 years of life in a house with an outside bog, some public toilets seemed palatial. Varied marble in wraparound urinals, polished brass door handles on stately cubicle doors. Presumably they continue their subterranean existence, as sealed as a tomb.

Hi Ed unfortunately they have to keep toilets closed now because of drug taking. Iv worked in places where we'd find needles in toilets. Sorry state 😢

As a child I lived in a tenement with an "added on" toilet. Shared by two families, and kept very clean. But in winter we had to burn a candle under the pipe to stop it from freezing.

Great to meet you on the bridge last week at the science centre. Another great wee video, highlighting a real need . They want folks to get out and walk but council don't provide toilets anymore . Been in Govan 25 yrs and never knew there are loos in the govan mall. I will need to find them next time I'm in there.

Nothing worse than being caught short 🤣 Most of the public loos in Edinburgh have gone the same way. Either permanently closed, converted or demolished. 😕

Well video Ed, very relevant, nice on you.

Great video as always Ed

We have no public toilets where we live either. To mirror a similar comment below, one set had to close due to some rather unsavoury behaviour and the other ones never seem to open. For unknown reasons. We have some in Tesco but definitely not on our so called high street. It is a very sorry state. Thanks for another insightful video, Ed. Really interesting. All the best.

Fantastic video Ed, never thought about woman’s toilets in Victorian times. Just thought they would have had them. I remember using the public toilets downstairs on Buchanan street probably mid 90s, always a daunting place but I could feel the oldness of the place with the dark glazed tiles. Anniesland cross had brilliant public toilets. I went to knightswood secondary and walked down to anniesland most days for lunch and those toilets were immaculate we would often get chased out for being too rowdy.

In Glasgow, ed, there's a toilet at the botanical gardens, and one in st Enoch,s centre, that you need to go up a few escalators to get to, don't know any others.

So true lack of PC. Great Vid Ed.!!

A really important video---thank you.

Loved the music.

i passed by the one in teh city centre for years before realising what it was, and that it was open. Id only noticed the old ones underground beside it were not.

Everyone wants to be the master. Never the servant. But, I always held Toilet Attendants to be masters of a trade. Kings of their own domaine. Do you know, Versailles was built without toilets! They did it behind curtains and in the flower pots. We all do it, but, not so some architects. I'm thinking Aliens. Oh and, last time I was in Paris Nord, the toilet cleaners are all French African women. It is a contract like Chinese Laundry men in the RN. The office window looks straight down the urinals. Clochemerle anyone? 😂.

Hi Ed, a sad state of affairs back then and now. And yet even in the late eighties,the Ubiquitous Chip on Ashton Lane had needles in their toilet water tank. Billy Connolly being a patron or not!

Ed, Thanks again for yet another stimulating video. A bit off the subject, but I was intrigued by that "column" behind you in the introductory section. It looked like a stack of cards stuck together with Roman Numerals on it. What exactly is it?

If I recall, in Carry On Screaming (1966), Charles Hawtrey played Dan Dann the Lavatory Man. Im fairly sure that I remember similarly employed men back in the mists of time when I was a nipper. Maybe they were just blokes who liked hanging around toilets! But more Public Toilet Attendants would make sure that the service wasn't abused.

Caught short, eh? Of a penny, I presume. Great social history vide. Thankyou Ed

If we're not going to provide toilets, and with an aging population, we need to require all eating and drinking premises to allow non-customers to use their facilities. £1/pee, might encourage folk to buy a cup of tea, business might even increase.

Sadly so many places today, either you need 50p to use council loos, or u have to be a customer in a shop to use their toilets, It’s absolutely crazy, Even in 1980’s the school amd public toilet paper, wow, it was like wiping with a Brillo, it was rough But living in Edinburgh as a wee lassie, I still remember my granny having a outside loo, when I think back, looks and even smells of it, I can still remember I know live in wales, amd it’s even worse here, with public toilets, most now closed down, shops charge you unless u buy a drink, yes a drink and you need to pee 😂 😮 and if the y refuse you, they direct you to certain places, which are if ur walking, feels miles away, May aswell just wear tenas when u need to go out ladies, not sure what gents can use, but, 😂😂

Thanks all the best from Auld Reekie

Now what was that 1970s TV drama about the Victorian shipping line. named after ques for convinces? Ah the Onedin Line. ( Aw needin' line)

Instead of you saying you were "sprinting up the stairs", I thought you said you were "sprinkling" up the stairs, Ed ☺. You're right, never pass up an opportunity to use a toilet. Mx

The public toilets in saltcoats are an absolute disgrace. Honestly you have to wipe your feet on the way out. What visitors to this town think, I would Hazard to guess.

Hi Ed, great video, it will have wrung a bell with so many people of a certain age. As a lorry driver I have peed in many strange places, and not only peed. When I was undergoing my prostate radiotherapy a nurse gave me a wee card. I haven't used it yet but it's got a toilet on it and says, I Have a medical condition and need to use a toilet quickly, please help. I keep imagining people's faces if I go in somewhere and flash my card.

Your tripod is bigger than mine 😂😂

Hi Ed. Just for your information, there are public toilets in Govan Shopping Centre.

Should have went to the one in the Govan Shopping Centre.

Interesting video thanks Ed. You certainly have a reason to be pee'd off. Wouldn't it be nice if one of the council decision makers got caught short while out strolling the streets of Glasgow. I suspect that some of these decision makers don't really care about people and to supply a public convenience is too much of an inconvenience.

Last December, I was in Perth getting my winter jabs. I went into a busy cafe and walked to the toilets at the back for a Jimmy Riddle. Nobody seemed to notice, but they may have if it was quieter. If caught short, head for a busy place, and dont look too trampish. 👍👍👍

hear ,hear!....a fellow pe'ed aff walker...

I’ve got prostate cancer and toilets in trains are a sore point. Literally.

Don't waste money.

Know what you mean about whether to have a second cup before going out for a walk. Bit if toilet humour. I think this was from a Christmas Cracker....... Why does Mr Spock keep going to the loo...to iook at he Captain's Log

cottages

Sad situation overall. 😂 Lynn

Dammit now I have to pee

IT IS WORSE WHEN YOU ARE ON WATER TABLETS .

🤣🚽👍

Same with banning alcohol on trains cant have a quiet drink on your journey because of the occational problem drinker

Ed, your latest video is a Lot of Auld P*sh 🚽 😂 But very interesting and showing that our society is rolling backwards towards the conditions our ancestors had to endure. If I were you, I’d get a sponsorship deal for advertising adult pee Pants 🩲 for walking around our Cities. 🫡