At Your Convenience: History, Health and Hygiene

London, United Kingdom

(1)

Walking Tour

30 mins

1mi

About the Tour

We take toilets (and most other sanitary fixtures) for granted... but there is nothing pre-ordained or natural about them. They reflect deeply ingrained cultural norms.
This walk through Bloomsbury dives into the history of toilets and how we came to appreciate them, from the Great Stink of 1858 and London's cholera outbreaks, to modern development work... and of course tales of toilet greats, like the eponymous Thomas Crapper.

Music by Paul Freeman; Guest voices: Barbara Penner, Tse-Hui Teh, Catalina Pollak, Lucinda Hawksley, Rudi Grace.

Tour Producer

The Loo Lady Erickson

I am the creator of London Loo Tours, which are designed by and for adventurous spirits who want to see the world differently, who love history and off-the-beaten-track adventures and who care about important social issues. Plunge with us into the humble toilet and discover whole new worlds of history, politics, psychology and, of course, humour. The tours started in 2013 when, living in London as an American Drama student, I asked the question "where can I go for free." One thing lead to another, a joke became a full time project, and Loo Tours was born. I have taken my research as far afield as Indonesia for the 2013 World Toilet Summit, and am interested both in the local and global aspects of toilets and the people who use them. More information at lootours.com and theloolady.com

Map

Major Landmarks

British Museum
Princess Louise Holborn Pub

Directions to Starting Point

This tour begins at Euston Square Station at the Gower Street Exit (next to the Wellcome collection and across the street from the Hospital.)
Euston Square can be accessed on the Circle, District, Metropolitan, and Hammersmith and City Lines. It is a short walk from Warren Street Station (Victoria and Northern Lines.)

Show Directions

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

UCL, British Museum, Princess Louise Pub

Best time of day

This tour is most pleasant in the mornings and on weekends when the area is less crowded, but can be done at most any time.

The British Museum is open daily 10am-5:30pm (except on Fridays when it is open to 8:30pm)
The Princess Louise pub opens daily at noon.

Precautions

Take care when crossing streets. If you need additional time please pause the recording.

Comments

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the tip about Institute of Making... I will have a look at that when I'm next in London.

Posted by The Loo Lady , almost 5 years ago

Really enjoyable tour! It's nice being able to walk at your own pace without worrying you are getting behind the audio. The gps feature worked really well for the most part. The only issues our group had was that the Institute of Making audio didn't start playing when we were standing in front of the building (all 3 of us had this issue) and for 2 people the final Princess Louise pub audio didn't start automatically. This was not a big deal as you are able to start any audio segment manually and every other time the audio and walking instructions were perfectly in sync with our locations. It was very cool and the tour itself was excellent and well-guided. I look forward to talking more Voicemap tours in the future!

Posted by Ashley , almost 5 years ago