Spending a penny could give way to raising hundreds of thousand of pounds if a public toilet is sold off and turned into a residential property.
The building housing the gentlemen’s and women’s toilets in Spicer Street, St Albans is in the heart of the city’s old historic area and is a stone’s throw from the famous cathedral.
Last week councillors discussed what should happen with the loos as well as another public toilet nearby at the picturesque lake in Verulam Park.
In Spicer Street a quick online check of property prices shows the the average price of a home in the street to be around £1,030,000.
One resident said: “I should think it would fetch a million pounds without any problem. You could turn the men’s into a ground floor flat and the women’s to an upstairs one.”
All around Victorian and Edwardian properties jostle alongside each other with Georgian and Tudor also in the area.
Although the toilets which have stood on the corner of Spicer Street, George Street and Romeland Hill for decades come without a garden and have no parking space, it’s anticipated the converted loo could fetch an eye-watering sum should the local council decide to sell it for residential use
Both loos came up for discussion last week at a meeting of the St Albans District Council’s public realm committee.
The Verulamium Park Causeway toilets have been hit in the past by flooding problems.
The idea for the Spicer Street toilets would be to convert them into a residential property
The saving from closing down the Spicer Street toilets could amount to £11,830 and the sale of the building provide additional revenue.
The council, like local authorities everywhere, is looking to make savings where it can and all its departments are submitting plans as to how they can stay within budget.
The idea for the closing of the two sets of toilets has still to go before the full council
Fighting to keep both loos open is Cllr Annie Brewster, chair of the overview and scrutiny committee who said the toilets in Spicer Street are an important part of the heritage of St Albans.
She said “They are quite unique – Victorian or Edwardian and once you step inside it’s like going back in time. They are tiled and I’ve often popped into them when attending an event at the abbey and need to adjust my hat.
“Once you close down these places you can never get them back.
“They provide a service for the visitors going in and out of the St Albans Cathedral as well as people out enjoying themselves in the area and visiting the pubs. What are council’s for if you can’t provided places for people to park their cars and have a wee.
A council source said any decision to close the loos has still got to be made by the full council and what had been put forward was part of a series of ideas and proposals as to how the council could save money in the future and raise much needed funds.
As to what the Spicer Street loos could fetch if the building is sold for house develeopment, one council worker said: “Prices are are steep in that area. We are talking hundreds of thousands. Quite how much the council would make, I don’t know.”
