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‘Hospitable toilet network’ to roll out in Brussels restaurants

19:26 03/06/2021

Brussels-City is planning to open four new public toilets in the municipality and are launching a programme to subsidise restaurants that open their toilets to anyone, customer or not.

The municipality currently has 29 urinals and 14 toilets, four of them in Stib stations. Two more will be placed this year, one on the corner of Putterie and Madeleine and one further west on Rue des Six Jetons.

Another two will be dry toilets, one for Bois de la Cambre and one at Prince Léopold Square in Laken. Four more toilets are planned for 2022, including on Boulevard d’Anvers near Yser and in Egmont Park near Boulevard de Waterloo.

All of these toilets will be made easier to find as they will be indicated on the tourist signposts dotted around the centre of town.

“The public toilets that are available are often out of order or just plain dirty,” Lien Maes told Bruzz. “There also are not enough of them.” With Ghent University’s social sciences department, Maes recently completed a thesis on the provision of public toilets in the capital.

She also points out that there are more options for men than for women and that toilets are often a hard-sell when it comes to area businesses and residents. “They are associated with an unpleasant smell, a lack of safety and other unwanted activities.”

Public toilets are also expensive, both to place and to maintain. But toilets in restaurants come with zero maintenance or cost to the city. Eateries are being recruited now to be part of the ‘hospitable toilet network’

“It’s a great initiative,” says Maes. “Restaurants that agree to be part of the toilet network will put stickers in their windows to let people know.”

When the toilet network will start operating hasn’t yet been announced.

Photo top courtesy Google

Written by Lisa Bradshaw

Comments

silverflipper

It's about time something like this is done. It is a public health issue and should be treated ( and funded) as such.

Jun 4, 2021 11:49
John P

Wow,.
Finaly civilization has slowly started to creep in, even-though subsidized!!

Jun 4, 2021 12:00