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In the 1950s there were several public conveniences in Houghton. These were located behind the Britannia public house, on the same side in Vine Place, and also next the Market Place at the bottom of Edwin Street, behind the Wheatsheaf Hotel; both conveniently located for anyone journeying between Houghton’s many pubs. In the Broadway, there stood a black and white stripey pole with a sign pointing to Vine Place with an arrow stating ‘public conveniences’. These had been designed by by Jack Sherriff following instructions from his boss, Vivian Hunter, the head of Houghton Urban District Council’s Engineer & Surveyors department, around 1939. Copyright © Books of the North 2010.

Octogenarian, Dr Jack Morley recalled in 2011 the ‘official opening’ of the urinals:

“Jack [Sherriff] told me that Hunter had asked him to draw plans for a public convenience in Vine Place. The planning provoked many wisecracks each time we met. The plans were eventually approved, and construction completed, but there was not an official opening ceremony. This seemed to us very amiss, so a few days later we decided to do the honours ourselves. Singing "God Save the King" we marched into the toilet one evening and made an official "flushing" - at any rate of the Gents side of the urinals!.”

In the early 1960s a new public toilet block was built into the wall of Rectory Park. These toilets were accessed from Vine Place and provided Houghton’s shoppers with a place to spend a penny between shopping trips.

The derelict Park toilets on Vine Place, Houghton-le-Spring, 2009.
Copyright © Books of the North 2010.

Over time the toilets became neglected, run down and vandalised and by the 1990s were out of use; indeed the roof was exposed to the elements, but interestingly the stale smell remained. Copyright © Books of the North 2010.

A last glimpse of the derelict toilets in March 2010.
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The toilet block was demolished in April 2010.

Demolition gets underway on April 13th 2010.
Copyright © Books of the North 2010.

The subject of public convenience in Houghton has been a pressing one, with the Sunderland Echo letters page regularly featuring complaints from disgruntled shoppers (one local man, Charlie Staff, wrote a witty poem about the dangers of visiting Houghton Feast and being caught short!). The issue is a serious one; the BBC’s Inside Out programme of October 7th 2002 reported that one local authority spent almost £750,000 a year on its toilet provision, and as costs spiral many local authorities across the land are shutting their netties down! Copyright © Books of the North 2010.

A recent communiqué from Houghton’s Ward Councillors suggest that a ‘community toilets sharing scheme’ will be in operation for the town centre, whereby retailers provide access to their toilets during opening hours, in return for a gratuity from the Council. The good news continues: on the agenda at a recent Houghton Feast meeting was the provision of portable-toilets for the busy first weekend of the Festival.

All gone - on April 19th 2010.
Copyright © Books of the North 2010.

Wherever you spend a penny in Houghton, I do hope it is in a convenient place!

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:: Inside Out information obtained from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northeast/series1/public-conveniences.shtml
:: Houghton’s toilet share scheme as detailed in the July/Aug 2010 Labour Councillors Update newsletter.
:: Thanks go to Dr Jack Morley for sharing information on Houghton’s “Chlochemerle”, which were built by his good friend, Jack Sherriff.

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