British Toilet Association

There is an organization called British Toilet Association. BTA.

I am not kidding. Look it up. They have a website.

Their motto is Campaigning For Better Public Toilets For All. This is a fastidious example of attention to detail.

When you first visit the site there is an information section called The Latest Toilet News featuring headlines like: "Louth public toilets to re-open after 42,000 pound refurbishment."

Or

"Cumbrian market trader's anger over public toilet closure." Iain Aird operates a fruits and vegetables stall near a public toilet. Some public toilets are being closed as part of local government's attempts to save 3 million pounds by 2015. Iain says: "It's absolutely disgraceful. How can the council encourage people to shop and trade at the market if they can't use a toilet?" Facts: "Mr. Aird sets up his stall first thing in the morning and leaves around 4 p.m. He said he would struggle to work for that many hours a day without a toilet break and he isn't prepared to use facilities in nearby cafes as it would seem cheeky."

Or

"Big Issue: Good public loos are the hallmark of a civilised society." I love that. Maybe if we called our toilets loos, there wouldn't be so many disgusting ones despoiling the landscape. Although I have to admit that I have been in some horrific bathrooms in some dive bars, and as I stood in liquid that I was praying was water, I felt comfortable in knowing the squalor was part of the ambiance.

You can tool around the site and learn that the BTA was launched at the May 1999 Public Toilet Seminar. You can become a member or a sponsor. You can check out their "Where Can I Go?" campaign which seeks input from interested parties including "workers in the nighttime economy who have particular difficulties in locating "out of hours" toilet facilities."

I discovered this organization while listening to an NHPR feature on how creative souls are turning closed public toilets into businesses like cafes, art galleries, community spaces. Even converting them into apartments.

One guy converted a public toilet into a sandwich and coffee bar and says: "Everything has been jet washed and the soil stacks have been concreted and capped. It smells beautiful down here now." Feels to me like he is trying too hard. Facts: The old attendant's office has been converted into a kitchen, and the urinals are now table tops.

One woman converted a public toilet into her "dream one-bedroom flat." Facts: her living room used to be the main gents stalls and urinals and her bathroom was formerly the attendant's office. She says "I love the originality of living in a toilet."

Apparently London property is quite expensive right now, so these toilets are a relatively inexpensive way to get what you want. I am an open minded guy given to worship of quirkiness and I respect the bizarre, but the truth is these places still look like toilets.

I would definitely have to check them out, but I am not sure my mind could get past the history surrounding me. I would hesitate to order a pulled pork butt sandwich, and even drinking a glass of water could prove to be traumatic.

Sorry, that was cheap humor but I could not avoid going there. I think I have shown remarkable restraint otherwise.

Anyway, in general I am grateful that the British Toilet Association exists. The Brits have quirky ways of making the world seem more human and I love them for that.