Rising cost of Britain’s public toilets and where it’s still free

While the average charge for paid public toilets across the UK is 31p, people in Eastbourne face an average charge of £1 per visit, more than three times the national average.

Other towns with some of the highest toilet charges include Newbury (75p), Hackney and Norwich (60p) and Stornoway (40p).

Public unisex toilet with green, blue and yellow doors and a sign in Braille for the blind and visually impaired at the seafront at Weymouth Seafront in Weymouth, Dorset, England, UK. (Image: Getty Images)

The data also showed:

• Penzance is Britain’s ultimate pay-to-pee town, with its only mapped public toilet charging users.
• Blackpool has one of the highest proportions of paid facilities, with 74% of public toilets requiring payment.
• Boston (65%) and Lytham St Annes (65%) also rely heavily on charged toilets.
• Nationally, roughly one in seven public toilets (14.7%) now charge users.
• Some of the UK’s most visitor-heavy destinations, including Westminster, Eastbourne, Scarborough and Norwich, rank among the most expensive places to answer nature’s call.

See the full map here.

Britain’s 20 most expensive places to use a public toilet

(Ranked by average charge for paid toilets)

• Eastbourne — £1.00
• Newbury — £0.75
• Hackney — £0.60
• Norwich — £0.60
• Camden Town — £0.53
• Swindon — £0.50
• Penrith — £0.50
• Basingstoke — £0.50
• Milton Keynes — £0.50
• Dorchester — £0.50
• Helensburgh — £0.48
• Reading — £0.48
• Scarborough — £0.47
• Rhyl — £0.45
• Kendal — £0.45
• Inverness — £0.45
• Colwyn Bay — £0.43
• Westminster — £0.43
• Llangefni — £0.42
• Penzance — £0.40

Public toilet sign in Dorset, England (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Recommended reading:

20 cheapest places to spend a penny (where charges apply)

• Banbury — £0.10
• Rochdale — £0.10
• West Bromwich — £0.10
• Oldham — £0.10
• Clydebank — £0.10
• Motherwell — £0.10
• Wolverhampton — £0.11
• Livingston — £0.13
• Coalville — £0.13
• Crawley — £0.13
• Manchester — £0.15
• Cambridge — £0.18
• Coleraine — £0.19
• Wigston — £0.20
• Bath — £0.20
• Lincoln — £0.20
• Mansfield — £0.20
• Alloa — £0.20
• Worcester — £0.20
• Grantham — £0.20

The data also reveals huge regional variations, with dozens of towns offering entirely free public toilets and several charging nothing at all despite maintaining extensive networks of facilities.