Feeling flush? Buy this former public toilet in Burnley (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Feeling flush? Buy this former public toilet in Burnley

3:04pm Thursday 24th September 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(1)

THIS auction lot is set to be far from bog-standard –and you’ll need to spend more than a penny become its proud owner.

The building, in Burnley Road, Cliviger, will go under the hammer at auction in Manchester next month.

The public convenience, which has been closed for a long period, is being sold off by Burnley Borough Council, and is up for auction with Preston-based Pugh and Company with a guide price of £5,000-plus.

Coun Michael Heys, who represents Cliviger, said the boarded-up building was in need of care and attention.

He said: “Something needs doing with the building, the problem is people still stop outside thinking it is a toilet, and then just go behind it anyway.

“In an ideal world it would be reopened as a public toilet but I don’t think that is going to happen.

“I’m sure someone will be interested in it and can do something creative.”

The toilet, which is on the main road between the village and Burnley, has been closed since vandals struck there.

Coun Heys said: “Of course there are elements in society who use the toilets for the wrong reasons and that is why these premises were closed.

“The parish council did look at taking over the running of the facilities but nothing came off it.”

The 280-metre square building will go to auction on October 15 at Manchester United Football Club, with auction bosses reporting strong interest in the toilet already.

Ideas include turning it into a gallery.

Coun Heys said: “I am sure there will be a bit of interest in it as it is rare for such a building to go up for sale, hopefully something const-ructive will be done with it.”

Last October a two-storey public lavatory sold in Fulham, London, for £403,000 – more than four times its guide price. And in 2007, a single-storey lavatory in St Andrews, Scotland, sold for £195,000, more than four times its guide price.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(1)