Back in Oct 2024 I posted some comments about the new (then) unisex toilets at Southampton Central. Yesterday, for the first time since then, I had the misfortune to re-visit those on Platform 4 (Bournemouth bound), and on the return journey, those on Platform 1 (London bound).
Platform 4: All/most of, them did seem to be useable. The one I used had not seen a toilet brush or bleach for some long time—glad I didn’t have to sit on it ! Not a pretty sight in any way.
Platform 1: Took my breath away—in more ways than one ! As I pointed out in my post from Oct 2024, work on these loos had just started then. Knowing the glacial speed at which things progress on the railways it must have seem some considerable time later that these were actually in use (well into 2025
). I can honestly say, with a straight face, that these toilets were amongst some of the worst I have seen anywhere …………...on the planet. I didn’t stop long enough to take a detailed look (I kept hearing the word “Ebola” ringing through my head), but….there seemed to be about 8 cubicles of which 5 were labelled “out of use”. The one I used had a toilet bowl which was a sort of pale coffee colour all over. The bowl was “clean” - in that there was nothing clinging to it—it was just coated in a thick coat of limescale which had just “matured” with age. It looked as though no attempt had ever been made to try and keep these toilets in anything approaching their original white colour.
Just what a visiting tourist, or anyone, would make of these toilets I cannot imagine. I struggle to find a word to succinctly describe them……………..disgusting, foul, awful, shocking………...but I think the most suitable one is—shameful. Whoever let these toilets get in this state should be given 100 toilet brushes and a 100 gallons of Domestos and told to get on with it—but I fear that the only way to now make them anywhere near acceptable from their present state is a complete rebuild—again !
I repeat my advice from 2024 ……………...use the loo on the train ! Oh …. and avoid the "Gents" on the Down platform at Bournemouth too !
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