We're Leyland cafe owners - this is why we've made our toilets open to all

A Leyland cafe is making a stand to make the town more accessible for people with certain health conditions.

Holly and Steven Nicholson-Wrigley of The Pantry in Hough Lane were recently approached by South Ribble Borough Council to consider taking part in their Community Toilet Scheme, which they said: “on the surface of things, sounds like a strange request”.

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They added: “Who needs a toilet that badly, right? But it’s actually a real problem for a lot of folks, and lack of facilities was highlighted by them as a barrier to visiting our wonderful town, which is unacceptable. Mental health considerations like social anxiety and OCD can’t be seen but are very real. And there’s a whole number of conditions like Ulcerative Colitis, IBS and Crohn’s that have potential to be incredibly disruptive if you don’t know where the nearest loo is. Even certain medications can have an impact on people and change life quite dramatically.”

Holly and Steven said they wanted to find a solution where there was no judgement or anxiety, and were happy to join the scheme and officially open their toilets to all.

They said: “It’s part of wider efforts to meet the needs of the community through our pay it forward scheme, our breastfeeding and parental support which is incredibly popular, our clubs to help with social isolation and the fact we’re visible allies to the LGBTQ+ community.

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“It’s on all of us to challenge health-related stigmas and to leave our society better than how we found it, so this was a complete no brainer for us - we’re thrilled it’s getting so much attention and hope it helps. We’ve been doing this ‘unofficially’ for ages. We want to support our community. We support them, and they support us in so many ways.”

Find out more of about the scheme here: www.southribble.gov.uk/communitytoiletscheme