Top tips for using public toilets

We may be best known in Glasgow as a domestic plumber but we also do a lot of commercial plumbing work for the likes of restaurants, bars and even rented office spaces.

Everyone pees and poos.  It is as sure a thing as death and taxes. So whether you are in the comfort of your own home or out for dinner on a Saturday evening, there is always a need for reliable plumbing and a working toilet that flushes. Of course, the vast majority of us would prefer to seek our toilet relief in our homes; primarily because it is our own personal space but also because generally, it is a lot cleaner.

The toilets in restaurants, pubs etc are (or should be) cleaned regularly but there is always the concern about hygiene in these bathroom spaces.  For example, despite signs, many people don’t wash their hands. Even in this modern pandemic age!

And that is what we wanted to share today.  A top tip on using public toilets when you are out and about.  Because as we have said already, everyone pees and poos. When you have got to go, you have got to go. And that means that you may not be able to hold on until you get home.  You have to use the toilet in the restaurant. And that comes with its own choices.

In larger hospitality venues, exhibition centres etc, there will be many cubicles to choose from.  Which one do you go for?  Sometimes it is not a case of picking the cleanest but picking the one that looks the ‘least unclean’.  But unless the cleaning schedule has been completely ignored, your best bet is actually the cubicle closest to the door.

The simple reason for this is that most people, when they enter the public bathrooms will walk past the first cubicle option and either go to the one at the end or a stall in the middle.  The idea being that they want more privacy.  This line of thinking means that the middle and end toilet cubicles are used more often by customers and the closest toilet cubicle to the door is used the least – hence it is the cleanest.

This isn’t just psychology.  At JSL, we have experience this for ourselves. Over the years with our commercial plumbing work, we have been called out numerous times to fix broken toilets and so often these are the ones located in the middle or end stales because the wear, tear and more frequent use has caused the toilets to break.  Our sister division JSL Drainage can support this claim. When they have been called out to fix a blocked toilet, it has, according to our discussion with the drainage team, been the toilets further from the door that get blocked.

So if you are looking for the cleanest toilet to use in a public bathroom, don’t skip the first stall.  Use it instead as it will most likely be the cleanest.