Lack of toilets in centre of Scarborough: Council opens up Town Hall facilities

With toilets in Brunswick Shopping Centre, Debenhams and Marks and Spencer closed, people were struggling to find somewhere to spend a penny.

One woman contacted The Scarborough News to say she had to relieve herself in a back street because she could not find a toilet that was open.

Scarborough Borough Council has now opened some of the toilets in the Town Hall to help ease the situation. There are also toilets open in the Market Hall.

The council says the opening of the Town Hall toilets will be reviewed when retailers open their toilets.

Brunswick Shopping Centre had said that it could not re-open its toilets safely in accordance with the Government’s social distancing guidelines but is understood to be reviewing the situation since last week’s announcement about the guidance changing from two metres to “one metre plus”.

A spokesperson for Marks and Spencer said: “For hygiene reasons, we haven’t opened any customer toilets in our shops through the lockdown period.

“As restrictions ease, we will continue to review this and continue to follow government guidance.

“We know customers value the facility when shopping and whilst they aren’t open at the moment, colleagues will of course use their discretion including for customers with disabilities.”