Nip in for a quick one at the Crossed Legs

You walk in tentatively, hasten past the barman and emerge a few minutes later hoping he didn't twig, but his grimace tells you that he did. Caught sneaking into the pub toilet, you feel shamed into buying a drink after all.

The strange social ritual of spending a penny - or, rather, spending nothing - on someone else's premises could be in for a dramatic reversal. Government officials will this week hear evidence that Britain's dearth of public loos could be relieved if cafes, pubs and shops actively invite the public to use their conveniences with no pressure to buy anything.



Local councillors will present evidence to the annual conference of the British Toilet Association (BTA) showing that a pioneering community scheme in which businesses are paid £600 a year to open their toilets to non-customers has been a big success. Volunteer members in Richmond, south-west London, display a 'Community Toilet Scheme' sticker in their windows and publicise their locations with street signs, noticeboards and maps.

A parliamentary steering group led by Baroness Andrews is set to publish strategic guidance on public toilet provision by the end of this month, although enforcing a legal requirement has been ruled out. Instead local authorities could each potentially decide to phase out public toilets and replace them with community schemes which are cheaper, cleaner, safer and more likely to offer baby changing and disabled toilet facilities.