Derry council pays cafes £300–£800 a year to open their toilets to the public for free

Derry City and Strabane District Council's Community Toilet Scheme offers local cafes, restaurants and other businesses £300 to £800 per year to let members of the public use their facilities for free. First brought in for a time in 2018 and re-introduced in 2023, it is the only scheme of its kind in Northern Ireland, though councils in England have used similar ones.

The context: Northern Ireland has lost more than 15 public toilets in the last decade, councils are cash-strapped and under no legal obligation to provide them, and the council operates 12 with no plans for new ones. Aisling Hutton, the Sinn Féin councillor chairing the health and communities committee, told the BBC the scheme is more cost effective than building new toilets, since the businesses clean and maintain them. The British Toilet Association puts an average public toilet at possibly £10,000 to £15,000 a year minimum to run.

For participants the deal is small money but real: coffee shop owner Patricia Mahon said the £300 a year goes toward toilet rolls and maintenance, while the shop gains footfall. Hutton said the scheme lets older people, disabled people and parents plan routes without fear of being caught short — and without buying anything. Its weak spot is awareness: several residents the BBC interviewed had never heard of it.

Councils have no legal duty to provide toilets and more than 15 vanished across Northern Ireland in the last decade.

Building new loos means capital plus £10,000–£15,000 a year each to run; the fee model costs a few hundred per business.

Businesses already own clean toilets, and footfall gives them a standing incentive to maintain them.

Guaranteed access for older people, those with disabilities and parents doubles as the council's age-friendly strategy.

When you cannot afford to own infrastructure, pay existing owners a small upkeep fee to open it to everyone: their cost is near zero and footfall does the maintenance.

As of November 2025 the scheme is running, with the council paying out and encouraging more businesses to join. The British Toilet Association welcomes community schemes but warns they should not replace council-owned provision, and is campaigning for UK-wide legislation making public toilets a legal requirement.