Former public conveniences in St Giles’
The former underground toilets, pictured before they closed in 2008
These underground public conveniences in St Giles’ were built in 1895. They were for gentlemen only, as there was no question in Victorian times of providing a public facility of this kind for women. In the past urinals had been frowned upon: Henry Auber Harvey, the Vicar of St Mary Magdalen Church, wrote to the General Purposes Committee in 1890 objecting to the urinal in Magdalen Street, but the committee said that it had been agreed to by a Vestry of St Mary Magdalen parish and was considered to be necessary as a public convenience.
Work on excavating the site for the toilets in St Giles' had started by 17 August 1895, when the following report appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
DISCOVERY OF RELICS.— During the excavation which has been made in connection with the new underground public convenience in St. Giles's the workmen came upon a large quantity of bones and horns, apparently those of oxen and deer, at a depth of about 7ft., a pair of horns being in excellent preservation; they also found a stoneware jug, minus the handle and broken at the spout, and two small cups made of red pottery and glazed, both much damaged.
The work was completed by 12 October 1895, when Jackson’s Oxford Journal reported:
Corporation works
An underground convenience has been built near the southern end of St. Giles-street, containing two w.c.’s and four urinals. These are reached by a flight of York stone steps from the surface of the street, and the structure is surrounded by a strong cast-iron railing on York stone base. The fittings are in the best white glazed ware, and the whole of the brickwork is lined internally with white and buff glazed bricks, the floor being of vitrified tiles laid upon concrete. The convenience is roofed with cement concrete carried upon steel girders, with pavement lights, cast-iron ventilators, &c.
There was originally just one entrance (the present southern one). Some of the railings are inscribed with the name of their maker, LUCY & CO, OXFORD (right)
A second entrance with matching railings was built at a later date.
The postcard below (postmarked 1920) shows just the original entrance and railings, with the cabmen's shelter parked behind. Doubtless the cabmen found this new facility very useful.
These gentlemen's toilets were described as follows in Richard Graham, At Your Convenience: A Guide to Oxford Loos (1966):
Eighteen standing and four 1d. sitting loos, and two modern weighing machines in a functional establishment with a chessboard floor and some rather kinky but unprintable graffiti. Open 24 hours like all municipal loos, and with the standard wash-room with attendant:– Open like the others 7.30 a.m. (8.30 a.m. Sundays) to 9.30 p.m. There are six basins, paper towels etc. and hair brushes are provided by the friendly attendant who appears very proud of his job.
In 1985 the toilets underwent a £47,000 renovation and concrete skylights were installed, and in 1998 the city council installed new stainless steel cisterns, toilet pans, and cubicle doors.
Closure and sale of the men's toilets, and subsequent planning applications
The men's toilets were closed in 2008 because of health & safety fears as they were on a very busy road with no crossing to them:
- Oxford Mail, 19 September 2011:
“Bogged down by health and safety: Why St Giles' toilets won't open”
In February 2014 they were put up for sale with a guide price of £65,000, and they were bought by Harries-Jones Ltd (the business of Gwyn Harries-Jones, the owner of the Galaxie Hotel in the Banbury Road).
First planning application (for offices): APPROVED but not executed
In August 2014 Gwyn Harries-Jones was granted planning permission to turn the toilets into underground offices:
- Approved planning application 14/01423/FUL
- Oxford Mail, 27 August 2014: “St Giles toilets to become offices”
The offices were, however, never built, although some work on the site started on 21 September 2017.
Second planning application (for short-let accommodation in two suites): WITHDRAWN
In July 2018 a planning application for “Change of use to short let accommodation (Use Class C1). Erection of 2no. glass canopies over the existing stair wells, restoration of the existing railings to create 2 x 1-bed suites” was submitted, but it was withdrawn in September:
- Withdrawn planning application 18/01992/FUL
- Oxford Mail, 10 August 2018: “Old public toilets in St Giles due for revamp – as a B&B…”
The accompanying Design & Access Statement reported:
The owner of the site Harries-Jones Limited acquired the toilets in 2014 and subsequently secured planning approval for the use of the site as offices. After a period of reflection the client has decided that in order to make the development of the site economically viable alternative uses for the site needed to be considered. The client is a small local family business that specialises in boutique bed and breakfast and short-let accommodation in Oxford including Henry's on St Michael's Street and The Galaxie Hotel in Summertown. The facility will add quality and choice as short let accommodation providing a unique opportunity for visitors in Oxford, with the client well-placed to understand and respond to the market to make a successful venture.
The proposal included two glass structures above ground, and a plant room to supply clean air to the bedrooms.
Third planning application (for short-let accommodation in two suites): APPROVED
In January 2019 a different planning application for “Change of use to short let accommodation (Use Class C1). Erection of 2no. glass canopies over the existing stair wells, restoration of the existing railings to create 2 x 1-bed suites” was submitted. This was approved on 15 April 2019:
- Approved planning application 19/00084/FUL
plus 19/00084/CND2 and 19/00084/CND relating to conditions - Oxford Mail, 17 April 2019: “Quirky B&B plan for St Giles' toilets approved”
Six years later, however, there had been little progress, and the Chairman of the Oxford Civic Society stated: “It is an eyesore and it's a very poor welcome for tourists to a world-famous academic city”:
- Oxford Mail, 13 March 2025: “Eyesore Oxford toilet could become Airbnb, chairman says”
In June 2025 The Netty, whose address is 1A St Giles’, Oxford, opened here. (Netty in the Geordie dialect means a toilet.) It has two suites, No. 1 and No. 2, each with its own flight of steps, offering “a one-of-a-kind boutique stay in central Oxford, set within beautifully restored Victorian public toilets”. It received this review in the New York Times of 23 July 2025.
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As this photograph shows, the hotel rooms are invisible from the street and the scene looks much the same as it always did:
This BBC news item has a film showing the underground hotel rooms.
The “indecent” women’s toilets of 1909 in Magdalen Street East nearby
There were no outdoor public toilets for women anywhere in the country in the nineteenth century, and even in London there was outrage in 1900 when proposals were put forward for a ladies’ toilet in Camden Town.
The women of Oxford had to wait until 1909 when these underground ladies' toilets were built in Magdalen Street East as a project for the unemployed (see Oxford Chronicle of 8 October 1909, p. 9). This toilet is opposite the side of Balliol College, and in her memoirs Mary Leslie, who worked for Oxford’s Public Health Department, describes the disgust some people felt at this indecency:
A very different “novelty” that our Department inaugurated was Sanitary Conveniences for Women. Strange to say, such comforts were open to men, but women were too modest to mention such a need. George Bernard Shaw wrote a pamphlet on this much-required service and about that time Oxford City Council decided to supply the need. Quite an agitation arose when it was announced that the first unmentionable contrivance was to be put, mercifully below ground, under the windows (the side windows) of Balliol. Even one of my sisters, visiting me and being shown with pride my latest boast, turned-away with disgust and called my work “indecent”.
These gentlemen's toilets were described as follows in Richard Graham, At Your Convenience: A Guide to Oxford Loos (1966):
After following various signs, one of them pointing skywards, one eventually descends into this clean establishment into which no dogs are allowed to enter. There are six 1d. loos, six wash-basins, coat hooks good mirrors, advertisements for the Radcliffe Clinic and a pleasant attendant.
These toilets remains open, and since the closure of the gents' in St Giles' have been unisex.
- More on the campaign for women's toilets in England:
Huffington Post: “Selfish inequality: The Long Wait for the Ladies' Room”