Public conveniences in Earl's Court used to mean pubic connivances.
Or should that be contrivances? But all that kind of thing fizzled out
with the greater openness of the Earl's Court gay community. Its pubs and
clubs had toilets of their own, for god's sake!

No, the gents at Earl's Court tube had already lost its reputation
as a pick-up point by the mid-eighties, with the renovated tube station.
And even if it had not, would that be an excuse for penalising innocent
members of the public? If ever a place needed public conveniences,
it is Earl's Court - with its massive influx of visitors to the Earl's Court
Exhibition Centre and Arena. And why shouldn't every tube station have a
public convenience? Weren't we all brought up to that idea? After all, they
are a Victorian invention, and aren't we supposed to revive Victorian values?

During the six months or so that the station was being modernised, the powers
that be arranged for Portakabin toilets round the corner in Penywern Road.
That was decent of them, you'd think it would have been universally agreed,
yet the residents association begrudgers were there orchestrating protest
against these arrangements. How dared they? Fortunately, the powers that
be took no notice of them.

How different things are today!
The Council, which ran the conveniences (not London Underground, as many seem
to assume), closed them BY STEALTH at the end of April (1999).
No consultation. No announcement
Except for a small, ambiguous on-site notice that could have been taken
to mean a temporary closure over the Mayday Bank Holiday week-end.

There was certainly no Council press release, as there should have been.

There was, however, a Council press release about the Earl's Court Residents
campaign against street drinkers.
As orchestrated by the bold Phelps. Hmmm.

We, the majority, would suffer in order to keep the streets free of people that a tiny
minority of snobs consider make the place untidy. If they are a genuine nuisance
(the street drinkers, that is), the Police have adequate powers to arrest or
move the along. They have done since the days of Sir Robert Peel (Victorian
values, remember?) We, the majority, would suffer inconvenience.
In a bad cause. Someone else's bad cause.

Then, in June, the conveniences reopened. As unannounced as their closure.

STOP PRESS - why were the (reopened) conveniences closed - around 4 o'clock, at any rate, on 28^th and 29^th June?
No notice, of course - except the standard big-sisterish "contact-the-Council-not-London-Underground-staff".
Well, why don't we take them at their word, and ask the Department they refer all enquiries to?

All enquiries to:-
Director of Engineering and Works Services,
Central Depot,
Warwick Road,
W14 8QD
Tel: 0171-373-6099

Let us know how you get on!
E-mail Earl's Court Local Patriots if you have any more inside info or gossip!