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Journal article

From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access

Charlotte Jones Orcid Logo, Lauren White Orcid Logo, Jill Pluquailec Orcid Logo, Tig Slater Orcid Logo

Sociological Research Online

Swansea University Author: Charlotte Jones Orcid Logo

Abstract

Public toilet closures in the UK, driven by austerity, have led to increasing reliance upon private or commercial facilities, such as toilets in bars and cafes (Slater & Jones, 2018; White, 2021a). The extra labour required to maintain and monitor these toilets became especially visible under Co...

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Published in: Sociological Research Online
Published: Sociological Research Online Sage
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa72037
first_indexed 2026-06-10T09:11:29Z
last_indexed 2026-06-10T09:11:29Z
id cronfa72037
recordtype SURis
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spelling v2 72037 2026-06-10 From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f 0000-0002-7348-4662 Charlotte Jones Charlotte Jones true false 2026-06-10 SOSS Public toilet closures in the UK, driven by austerity, have led to increasing reliance upon private or commercial facilities, such as toilets in bars and cafes (Slater & Jones, 2018; White, 2021a). The extra labour required to maintain and monitor these toilets became especially visible under Covid-19 restrictions. This article shares reflections from a project exploring the impact of additional cleaning and monitoring of customer toilets in the hospitality sector during the pandemic. We use in-depth sociological narratives from two hospitality workers to explore their role as ‘gatekeepers’ in maintaining toilet spaces and facilitating access to essential provisions. We argue that council toilet closures have turned the hospitality sector into social infrastructure, whereby some workers see themselves as providing essential welfare facilities, while others struggle to decide who should be granted access to customer toilets and find that monitoring access creates a risk of abuse. Using street-level bureaucracy theory (Lipsky, 1980), we show how this gatekeeper role puts the onus on hospitality workers to make difficult, individualised decisions and shifts attention from the urgent need for unquestionable access to free, publicly funded toilets. Journal Article Sociological Research Online Sage Sociological Research Online 0 0 0 0001-01-01 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Wellcome Centre via Wellcome Trust 203109/Z/16/Z 2026-06-10T10:11:27.6768600 2026-06-10T09:48:32.9144619 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Charlotte Jones 0000-0002-7348-4662 1 Lauren White http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6704-4054 2 Jill Pluquailec https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7631-3607 3 Tig Slater https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6739-7784 4
title From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
spellingShingle From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
Charlotte Jones
title_short From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
title_full From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
title_fullStr From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
title_full_unstemmed From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
title_sort From Public Good to Private Provision: The Role of Hospitality Workers in Gatekeeping Toilet Access
author_id_str_mv 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f
author_id_fullname_str_mv 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f_***_Charlotte Jones
author Charlotte Jones
author2 Charlotte Jones
Lauren White
Jill Pluquailec
Tig Slater
format Journal article
container_title Sociological Research Online
institution Swansea University
publisher Sage
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Public toilet closures in the UK, driven by austerity, have led to increasing reliance upon private or commercial facilities, such as toilets in bars and cafes (Slater & Jones, 2018; White, 2021a). The extra labour required to maintain and monitor these toilets became especially visible under Covid-19 restrictions. This article shares reflections from a project exploring the impact of additional cleaning and monitoring of customer toilets in the hospitality sector during the pandemic. We use in-depth sociological narratives from two hospitality workers to explore their role as ‘gatekeepers’ in maintaining toilet spaces and facilitating access to essential provisions. We argue that council toilet closures have turned the hospitality sector into social infrastructure, whereby some workers see themselves as providing essential welfare facilities, while others struggle to decide who should be granted access to customer toilets and find that monitoring access creates a risk of abuse. Using street-level bureaucracy theory (Lipsky, 1980), we show how this gatekeeper role puts the onus on hospitality workers to make difficult, individualised decisions and shifts attention from the urgent need for unquestionable access to free, publicly funded toilets.
published_date 0001-01-01T10:11:29Z
_version_ 1867600562556502016
score 11.108019

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