Hidden Henley

You could only have been in Henley-on-Thames if you encountered a large and curious regatta rower design on the wall of the public lavatory!

Back in December when I had only just started posting this feature online (Facebook: Martin Cook; Instagram: hidden_henley and website: hiddenhenley.com) after 25 years of submitting them to the local newspaper, I wrote about the story of one of our town’s other public toilets and this prompted some lively feedback.
In comparison with other areas such as nearby Wokingham District who have closed theirs, it may be that we are fortunate to have any at all. But we have acceptable amenities including those at Mill Meadows, plus those in Greys Road and Kings Road car parks and yet if you travel just to Wargrave for example, visitors are forced to seek a café or public house.

As I mentioned in December, in the past we had such facilities with unusual characteristics including being located underground in the Town Hall. Some others were built on stilts, presumably to combat floods, at the entrance to Marsh Meadows and were complete with storage space underneath for ground maintenance equipment. Does anyone reading this now remember this (possibly unique) last oddity? More recently we had toilets in the Greys Road thoroughfare and car park that had unique tiling – as you can see in my picture. I’m sure that no other town could boast a toilet that included this large illustration in tiles of a rower! They have since been rebuild and upgraded.