Public Conveniences
Lower High Street

Malvern Gazette 22nd June 2007

Town celebrates as toilets reopen By Tarik Al Rasheed NEVER has one block of public toilets had such an impact on a community. Evidence of that should be apparent when the Lower High Street lavatories are officially re-opened this morning with a sense of pomp and celebration usually reserved for far greater affairs. After several petitions, two vociferously supported public rallies and the threat of a legal challenge, Upton finally has its public toilets back. The re-opening, just in time for this weekend's Upton Jazz Festival, is cause for celebration for Upton's traders and tourism officials, who have frequently bemoaned a drop in visitors since the conveniences were closed by Malvern Hills District Council in spring 2006. Publicans and restaurateurs will doubtless be relieved to see an end to queues of tourists stretching out of their front doors every festival weekend. In and around Upton there is a feeling that today's event represents something more than the reversal of an ill-construed business decision, it is a victory for people power. "When you get 700 people from a population of just 2,400 signing a petition you know you are dealing with a major issue," said Upton tourism and trade association chairman Peter Webb. "The people of Upton should take a lot of credit for this happening, and it is a victory for the whole town." Mr Webb said he hoped the town would now begin to recover some of the tourism trade lost over the past year. "The town has suffered, and business has been lost without doubt," he said. "I think reopening the toilets on Jazz Festival weekend will illustrate just how important they are to the town and its tourism." The toilets will be officially reopened at 10am today by MHDC leader and chairman Serena Croad and Susan Gill. Coun Croad said the move was a clear indication that her new administration was listening to what people want, and helping to get things done.