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Camden New Journal - By CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 17 January 2008

Church-goers cause Sunday havoc

A SCHEME aimed at easing the public toilet shortage in Kentish Town is in danger of being flushed away because of out of control clubbers, campaign groups have warned.
The SHOPPP Scheme – Safe and Happy Older People and Parents with Pushchairs – was launched in May after complaints that there were no public toilets.
Under the scheme, shops agreed to let anyone caught short while out in the area use their loo.
But campaigners say the scheme – which has been a success in Kilburn – has been threatened by drunken clubbers at the Forum.
Every Sunday afternoon the club in Highgate Road hosts a controversial event called The Church, a daytime club.
Deirdre Krymer, treasurer of the Caversham Elderly People’s Organisation, said businesses pulled out of the scheme last month after being deluged by revellers. She said: “If we can’t have our toilet scheme then we’re suffering because of the bad behaviour of [the club’s] clients.”
Voiija Deanhall, supervisor at R.E.D restaurant opposite the club, said clubbers were urinating and vomiting in a side street and putting off their diners. “They’re drunk and they’re loud,” he said. “It’s definitely a problem – they’re out of control.”
The club has acknowledged the scale of the problem by dispatching doormen to several business in the area.
Amir Atefi, the franchise owner of McDonald’s in Kentish High Street, said two Forum bouncers had guarded his restaurant for a couple of months after he was approached by a ward councillor.
Doormen from the Forum also stand outside the Oxford and the Assembly House pubs, also in the High Street. Pub staff said “Church-goers” were not welcome.
A spokesman for the Forum said: “I am surprised that the council chose to close down the public toilet facilities almost immediately outside the Forum, which I am sure does not help.
“We have more than adequate toilet facilities within the Forum itself and we are improving these as part of the current refurb programme.”

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