Great Western Coffee Shop

Are the toilets on platform 1 at Paddington eventually closing, because the new ones have opened on platform 12?  Or is it just the waiting room for passenger assistance, which is moving there in September?

Apologies for raising this basic topic but it's a long way to walk to platform 12, if you are a west country passenger.

I don't know the particular answer, Eliza, ... but one of the things we found for newcomers to rail travel was that they expected toilets at all of the smaller stations, and failed to realise that they're available on the trains, in contrast to buses and the tube in London.    Advice for inbound passengers - pop to the on-board loo before you arrive.

Except on that there will be none on the new Crossrail trains of course.  Are there any on the Overground?

only at the odd station....

Not on the train.  As ChrisB points out, there are a few London Overground stations with toilets.

Additionally, some London Underground stations have toilets, e.g. White City, West Ruislip, Cockfosters (which would probably shock anyone who has never left Zone 1).  The stations with toilets are even shown on the tube map.  It also indicates which side of the gateline they are located.

And Baker Street

I guess I'll bite then ;)

There also the toilets in the First Class Lounge if you are travelling First Class or Weekend First inbound only; as you can't buy Weekend First before departing!

A small handful of London Underground stations have toilets that I know of. Newbury Park, Earls Court and Stratford being some examples.

Whether they are open, working and/or clean is quite another story!

That's not to mention the staff who treat going from Train side of the gateline to ticket hall side as a break of journey. When if the toilets are in the station that is not the case.

London Underground are half way there by providing a map showing which stations have toilets. However I have found through bitter personal experience that 3-4 of every 10 visits results in success. That's before then having to strongly argue my case to get back to train side of the gateline. Of which I sadly have had limited success...

Many thanks for everyone's contribution.  You all seem to have a tale to tell.

Stratford is managed by Abellio Greater Anglia.

Managed by both AGA and LU according to Wikipedia.

Silent on who manages the toilets though.  :P

It's a big job.  :-X

This thread is going down the pan.

It's driving me potty.

I seem to recall  the announcements at Paddington used to say something like 'due to refurbishment works the toilets on platform 1 will be closed between 19:00 & 0x:00...', which would suggest they are improving them and intend to retain.

Apart, of course, from when they're out-of-order!

The single toilet on my half of the service home the other night was out of action - and there were two different "desperate" gentlemen in my carriage who definitely did not see the funny side!

Seriously, something that has always irritated me is that the toilets at busy stations like Southall & Hayes are closed at a ridiculously early time in the evening. I asked why and was told that they had to be closed when the station was unmanned. (This would have made sense apart from the fact that they were actually being closed considerably earlier than the advertised time and a good HOUR before the staff member in question was due to go off duty.

Another reason why toilets at stations need to be kept open is at times of disruption. If you have been kept waiting for 2 or 3 hours with no information, the lack of a toilet could be a major additional stress factor!

On the DLR Platforms so I'm guessing it's LU... All the signage is in LU Blue anyway :)


Even a 30 minute delay can be an issue. Board a train without a ticket as you couldn't get one but do have the means to pay and an immensely full bladder. What should you do?

Purchase your ticket and then go to the toilet? After all you have to purchase your ticket at the earliest opportunity :P

Or do you make a bid for the toilet, then go and buy your ticket and risk the possiblity of awkward questions as to why you "hid" in the loo...? :o :-X