A visitor to the popular shopping town of Markethill said she felt “sick” after visiting the town’s public toilets.
The woman – who wished to remain anonymous – said she had stopped in the town on April 17 after a return trip to Carlingford with a friend.
She admits it has been many years since she last visited the facilities on Newry Street but describes her most recent experience as “disgusting”.
On approaching the block – which consists of one female toilet, one male toilet and one disabled/family toilet – the woman said she opened the disability toilet door only to be met with an unpleasant smell.
She explained: “The shock of the smell of urine was so overpowering that only I was so desperate to use the toilet I would have run out.”
The woman also described the seat and metal surround of the toilet bowl as being covered in either “faeces or rust” adding that she “didn’t study it”.
The toilet bowel and back rest in the disabled toilet
She added: “The whole toilet was just disgusting and I ran out as quickly as I could before I was sick.
“If people come down to Markethill – which I consider to be a very good town – and have the experience that I did I am sure they will not want to return.
“They also need to be supplied with paper, soap and a drier.”
In response, Armagh I visited the facilities on April 23 and found them to be in relatively satisfactory condition.
There was, however, what appeared to be excrement at the bottom and sides of both the female and disabled toilets.
The ladies toilet
The back rest on the disabled toilet had also been vandalised and both toilet floors were tarnished with what appeared to be water stains.
While the ladies toilet smelt fresh there was a noticeable and unpleasant smell from the disabled toilet which was detectable from Newry Street when approaching the complex.
There was a single roll of toilet paper in both toilets but no additional rolls were visible.
When contacted for comment a council spokesperson said: “We aim to provide the highest possible standards of cleanliness in all public toilets across the borough and have implemented a comprehensive approach that includes regular cleaning, sanitisation, and disinfection, along with the maintenance of sanitary ware and equipment.
“The toilets in Markethill are inspected and serviced twice daily to ensure the facilities are clean and toilet roll/handwash are restocked.”
It is also understood that the vandalised disabled toilet backrest has been logged for repair.
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