The Wellow (Hungry Horse Pub) - Cleethorpes

Thumbs up for the standard of loos at The Wellow on Kings Road, Cleethorpes.

Visited on 2 occasions recently, enjoyed a lovely meal, a nice pint and the staff were pleasant.

The icing on the cake were the lovely clean loos.  A generous number of loos, so no queues.

Excellent clean facilities, plenty of loo paper (soft, soft, soft), pleasant fresh smell, plenty of liquid soap, and fast hand dryers.

Toilets were clean, sinks were clean and even the mirrors shone.

Well done - we'll be visiting again!

Tesco Extra - Hewitts Circus, Cleethorpes

OK, I know we go to supermarket to do the shopping, not to visit the loo.  But modern supermarkets are HUGE!  Acres.  It can take a long time to get round (that's why I shop on line as much as possible), is thirsty work and if you succumb to a drink in the cafe or a can of something you picked up on the trail round, then this may (given the laws of input and output) necessitate a visit to the loo.

On a recent visit to the sprawling Tesco Extra at Hewitts Circus in Cleethorpes,  such a visit became necessary for me and I can report that it was a positive experience.  There are sufficient loos as to avoid a huge queue, the loos were clean, there was a faint and pleasant disinfectant / floral sort of fragrance.  The sinks are clean, there was liquid soap in the dispensers and the hand driers are fast and hygienic. 

As a bonus, I happened to be leaving to loo as a member of staff came in to check the standards of the loos and top up the toilet tissue.  I'd guess this can't be anyone's favorite job, but the member of staff smiled and said good morning, before going about her business (no pun intended).

As I found out from speaking to friends and colleagues, it's certainly worth a supermarket keeping its loos up to scratch, because all other considerations being equal, most shoppers would take the facilities when choosing where to shop.

Keep up the good work Tesco.

Brigg Garden Centre

We recently visited Brigg Garden Centre (formerly Frosts Garden Centre) and as I was with my husband, and daughter Vicky, we can comment on both the ladies and men's loos.

And we all agreed that these are very good facilities.  Excellent in fact.  Lovely clean, slightly bleachy smell, nice and simple - just smelled really fresh and hygienic.  With toilets, it's usually the smell that creates the first impression and can even put me of venturing further if it's a bad smell.  But this was a very good first impression and was representative of the whole experience. 

Clean toilets, well lit, warm water to wash hands, and the Dyson Blade (no less) to dry them quickly and hygienically.

Vicky agreed with my summary of the ladies, and my husband concurred that the gents was of equally high standard.

So well done, Brigg Garden Centre.

The Studio, Cleethorpes - Clean Toilet Number One

Well, the criteria and questionnaires for Review The Loo haven't even been prepared yet, but I have recently used a loo which was SO clean it warrants a mention even without a scoring system in place. We can review it again when we have the criteria in place - I'm sure they will score high.

I recently attended a 21st Birthday Party in the Function Room (upstairs) at The Studio, a new bar with a function room in the Market Place, Cleethorpes.

The beer flowed and therefore a few "comfort breaks" were required!!

The loos were a triumph.  There were only two in the ladies, but this was sufficient for the number of people attending.  The actual toilet was a shiny metal and was beautifully clean.  There was plenty of loo paper, the sinks were clean, the floor was clean and free of debris.  There was no unpleasant odour and the loos remained clean even as the night wore on - so must have been regularly checked.  Liquid soap was plentiful and there were adequate hand drying facilities.

So it's a positive report for The Studio in this informal review.

This has set the bar very high and has helped to clarify the judging criteria.  The questionnaire will cover:

• number of cubicles / queueing time
• general overall cleanliness
• is the toilet itself a clean toilet
• state of repair (looking at things like broken toilet seats / loo roll holders / locks on doors
• basics - is there plenty of loo roll, liquid soap, hand drying facilities
• how does it smell?
• ladies essentials - are there sufficient sanitary bins and are they clean
• what about vending machine for ladies hygiene / contraception?
• added extras... those finishing touches that are not essential but are always welcome - a hook on the door to hang bags, hand cream, air freshener.

 If you think of any other criteria that we should judge, please leave a comment.

Welcome to Review The Loo!

Welcome to Review The Loo!  If you're wondering what it's all about, wonder no more.....

Have you been for a meal in a lovely restaurant, had great food, great wine and a generally lovely evening, then gone to the loo and been shocked at what a let down they are.  Grubby hand towel?  No soap?  Dirty sink?  Does it leave you thinking "If this is how dirty the loo is, what might the kitchen be like?" ... and by that time, you've already eaten! Eeeeek

Have you been for a pleasant walk at the seaside or in a park, needed to use the conveniences, and found the floor covered in toilet paper and some liquid that you hope is water.  Then struggled to find a cubicle where the loo isn't full of ... well, you know what!  When you find the loo in a terrible state it can leave you wondering what awful germs you've picked up in there?


Have you ever been taken short in a supermarket or shopping centre, found the loos, only to recoil at the smell when you open the door ...... and decided that somehow you'll manage to wait til you get home?

Of course you have.  We've all been there and it's NOT nice.  And it's so unnecessary.

And what about when you're in a pub or club towards the end of a late night out, you queue for 20 minutes, with legs crossed, only to find the floor swimming with something that certainly IS NOT water.  You can't wait when you've been out on the razz so you summon up all your courage, squat over the seat as there's no way you'd sit on it, and then when you've finished, of course there's no loo roll.

Toilets are important - but you wouldn't think so when you see the state of them in some restaurants, pubs, shopping centres and parks.

Review The Loo aims to change all this.  We will be starting to systematically review the loos of Great Britain and naming and shaming those that don't hit the mark.   The purpose is three-fold:

• to inform you, the reader, of where the best and worst loos are, so that you can choose to take your business to the places that care enough about you to provide adequate, clean facilities (or, if you can't avoid the worst loos, you can make sure you don't have too much to drink before you set out!).

•  to acknowledge where the best Public Conveniences are and thank those people responsible for keeping them clean and making them more pleasant to use

• to give retailers / managers / restaurateurs / landlords / landladies etc the opportunity to take our feed-back on board and make improvements to those loos that fall below the mark 

Over the coming weeks, we'll be developing a questionnaire and scoring system posting our first loos reviews.  Within a few months we'll be building a network of reviewers so that we can Review the Loos up and down the country.

With your help,  we can get some improvement on the standard of our toilets in bars, parks, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, shopping centres, hotels, pubs .... in fact, anywhere where there's a loo open to the public.


If you'd like to join the Review the Loo revolution - make a comment and leave me your email address.