It seems Mandelson was ‘caught short’ at around 11 pm last November, outside George Osborne’s £10 million Notting Hill home, after a no doubt pleasant evening dining with the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer. The hapless twice ‘resigned’ Secretary of State, ex-EU Commissioner, and sacked American Ambassador, albeit still a Privy Councillor (to place these noble positions in their proper and dignified ranking) was photographed on the pavement ‘peeing’ against a wall. All to the delight of the Daily Mail which mercilessly chose to publish the ‘offending’ image.

Mandelson, who apologised profusely while rather ambiguously saying that there was ‘no disguising my embarrassment’, blamed his predicament on two Uber drivers, both of whom had apparently ‘cancelled on him’.

Apologies notwithstanding, Kensington & Chelsea Council has confirmed its intent to issue a fixed penalty notice – likely to be around £300 – just as soon as it can find his address!

All of which raises two questions: what is and isn’t legal in terms of peeing? And, should there be more public lavatories in our cities?

To the first, I was surprised to learn that in the UK for the last 40 years you haven’t even been able to pee in the countryside! Under The Public Order Act 1986, you risk a Fixed Penalty Notice if spotted doing so anywhere ‘outdoors’. So next time nature calls, hold that thought until you get home, or at least to a designated toilet.

Many councils now classify ‘wild peeing’ in lay-bys or woodlands as ‘littering’, which can carry fines of up to £2,500. Many local authorities have specific by-laws or Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) that explicitly ban urination in any public place, including rural parks and trails. Then there is the matter of alleged indecent exposure: if you are ‘seen’ by others, you risk being charged under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, especially if a minor is present.

So be careful: some authorities are adopting a very aggressive stance. Dacorum Council in Hertfordshire issued 776 fines on hapless citizens caught ‘watering the plants’ during 2023. Taken to extremes, this would see ramblers leaving home with two flasks: one with drinking water and one empty, only to be filled as a result of nature’s calls.

Leaving aside the absurdity of all this, the inadequacy of provision of public conveniences in our towns and cities is worsening by the day, despite fast- growing populations, increasing homelessness, and the ongoing closure programme. The British Toilet Association (BTA), that most worthy of organisations, reports that somewhere around 50 per cent of public lavatories have been closed since the millennium. Beyond the matter of public health consequent on people urinating and defecating in our streets, another impact of all this is the growth in ‘LLE’ syndrome: that is the ‘Loo Leash Effect’ that the BTA researchers say now affects an incredible 42 per cent of respondents who claim that a lack of public toilets limits their time away from home.

In my home suburb of Woodford, even the architecturally undistinguished public lavatory that has for decades served the community (once the constituency of Winston Churchill) has now been closed at the direction of the London Borough of Redbridge.

Recently closed public toilets in Woodford Green.

Such facilities do not, of course, have to look so grim. For inspiration in this genre of buildings, you need look no further than Piers Gough’s wonderful creation back in 1993 in, you guessed it, Notting Hill. If only Mandelson had known!

That stunning project, which juxtaposed the unlikely combination of public lavatory and florist in the form of the original ‘Wild at Heart’ kiosk, is shown below:

Turquoise Island public lavatories by CZWG architects.
For more information on that building, and other fine designs for this most basic of human needs, take a look at this clip from the BBC’s Late Show, narrated by Piers himself, back in 1994. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zwhwr.

The problems associated with street urination have a long history, which climaxed with the introduction of ‘pissoirs’, in Paris in the early part of the 19th century. The green, cast-iron cylindrical structures became a symbol of that city, peaking at some 1,500 units during the Belle Époque, that enchanting period of peace and prosperity, along with cultural, artistic, and scientific innovation that characterised Europe between the close of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Pissoir at Colonnes Rambuteau just north of the Musee de Louvre, circa 1860.

Otherwise known as vespasiennes, after the Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus who taxed urine collection, the pissoir offered modest privacy for men and became a crucial, albeit rudimentary, part of 19th century efforts to clean up Paris. Modern sanitation technology and changing social behaviours led to their demise and most were removed during the 1960s. Today, only one, (defunct) remains, on the Boulevard Arago near La Sante prison.

The last Parisien pissoir, albeit decommissioned, at Boulevard Arago.
Pissoirs never really took off in London, and those few that were constructed were altogether more discrete affairs. The only remaining example, dating from 1851, can be found in Star Yard in Holborn.

Star Yard in Holborn.

Nearby, in Clifford’s Inn Passage close to Fleet Street, is another relic of London’s past, although less helpful to those in urgent need of ‘relief’: understandably concerned about men (and I am afraid it was men) urinating against walls in side streets and alleys, the Victorians took to installing urine ‘deflectors’ outside their buildings, the intent being to ensure that urine was deflected back onto the trousers and shoes of those who relieved themselves. Another example can be found on Lothbury, close to the Bank of England.

Urine deflector in Clifford’s Inn Passage.

But the whole issue of providing for those who just need ‘a leak’ as opposed to a ‘number two’ is finding new interest, especially in relation to the needs of urban nightlife and major festivals.

First up has been rather crude urinals, as per the image below, early versions of which I saw being craned into London’s Soho for Friday and Saturday nights some 20 years ago. Catering only for men, such ‘facilities’ are now common across many of the UK’s cities.

Mobile pissoirs as appeared in Soho twenty years ago.

The sensibilities of our fellow citizens have relaxed. We recognize growing needs as a result of vastly increased levels of drinking and socializing in our cities, and perhaps realise that the sight of men urinating in public into pissoirs is a lesser evil than men urinating in public without pissoirs. So we now see the arrival of much more sophisticated versions. The zenith in this respect seems to be the telescopic ‘pop-up’ urinal (invented in the Netherlands) which operates hydraulically when needed, as shown in the picture sequence below:

Hydraulic ‘pop-up’ urinals.
You can see here a short video of an early version of one of these, as installed in London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M6YX4gffL0

UriLift retractable unit featuring three self-sanitising gents’ urinals.

The Pop-Up Toilet Company, which manufactures the UriLift Triple, claim that it can ‘accommodate’ up to 180 visits per hour versus a standard public toilet which it says can manage only 20. And the rounded urinals are allegedly ‘ideal for extra privacy’.

Another, less discreet version of pissoirs, again for men only, met furious reactions from women when it began to appear in Paris. In its brightly coloured design it provoked seething anger amongst French feminists who, objecting to the return of open-air urinals for men, filled them with menstrual products and concrete, and plastered them with stickers. As Gwendoline Coipeault of the feminist organisation Femmes Solidaires told the Guardian: ‘These urinals are designed to reinforce the idea that women aren’t welcome in the public space’.

But in the end, it’s all about time and, as every woman knows, the queue to the cubicles is a tiresome affair for those 90 per cent of visits that only demand a ‘wee’. For the men, with their easy access to urinals, whether within a ‘gents’ lavatory or in the street, the process is so much easier!

Or was, until Nathalie Des Isnards put her mind to the problem and created a woman’s urinal. The simple seatless basin she devised is housed in a cubicle with roof and door, designed for faster use but also privacy. In 2020 some 100,000 women used MadamePee at events all over France.

Our changing attitudes evidently make us receptive to even more adventurous innovations, one of the latest being ‘Lapee’ designed by brilliant Copenhagen-based architects Gina Perier and Alexander Ejeberg. Bright pink and consisting of three ‘squat’ urinals, it’s made from recyclable plastic and has no doors, albeit curved walls provide for some visual privacy while encouraging quick use. And like the pop up UniLift pissoirs for men, Lapee units can be installed in the open street.

‘Lapee’ designed by Gina Perier and Alexander Ejeberg.

But watch out for Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane, Bristol University graduates and founders of Peequal, who have just secured a £1 million investment into their women’s urinals company. Dedicated to ensuring women spend less time in queues, they are spearheading market opportunities by changing public perception and behaviour as well as manufacturing, and installing their product. See their brilliant video here: https://www.peequal.com/how-it-works/

Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane, founders of Peequal.

Futures in this specialist genre of architecture are difficult to predict, and will depend heavily on the rate of change in public sensibilities, but it seems inevitable that female urinals, absent of cubicles, are bound to become ever more common in women’s lavatories, and that there is a distinct possibility that unisex urinals will also become acceptable, though not for me . . .

The future? Cubicle-free women’s urinals and unisex urinals.

In the meantime, for women who like Lord Mandelson get caught short in the street, the female street pissoir is surely still a long way off.