An illustration of how the cafe could look

NEW accessible public toilets are planned for Highbury Fields after complaints that there are too few places in the borough to go for a wee.

The park will get five state-of-the-art public toilets under a new planning application for the park. They will be unisex and have baby changing facilities. One will be a “changing places” accessible toilet that provides a hoist to those who need it, and there will also be another, smaller, disabled toilet.

“People keep peeing in the fields, because there’s nowhere else to go,” said Antony Robbins, a Highbury resident and blue badge tour guide, who often takes his tours on a trip to Highbury Fields.

“It’ll really help me in my job, because when I take guests around, literally every tour starts with, ‘Can we use the bathroom?’ So, this will be great for that.

Tour guide Antony Robbins

“And from what I’ve seen of the plans, the cafe really looks like a beautiful building. It’s simple and unfussy.

“I’ve also been reassured that all the railings are going to be retained, so the heritage and the history of the area will be retained and not impinged upon. And we get a new cafe – what’s not to like?”

Highbury councillor Caroline Russell said: “The loos are a massive win. Over the years, I’ve done protests with the tennis players when the kiosk loo broke down, and we managed to get temporary porta-cabin loos put in instead.

“The lack of public toilets in the park is a real issue, and one of the public toilets was sold off years ago by the Lib Dems down near Highbury Corner, and that is now an office building. The ones at the top of the Fields were derelict and removed.

Kate Pothalingham of the Highbury Fields Association

“We were left with the kiosk toilet by the cafe, and then that broke down because they couldn’t get parts for it to maintain it, so we’ve had these portacabin toilets for years. Having properly designed loos will make a huge difference.”

As well as demolishing the existing Oasis Cafe and building a new one on its footprint, Islington Council is also proposing to demolish the bandstand building and the parkkeeper’s bungalow, replacing them with a children’s education centre and rewilding the land that’s left.

In 2018, the council put forward a plan to build one building in the Fields. However, this was unpopular as some said it spoiled views of the park.

Kate Pothalingham, the chair of the Highbury Fields Association, said the group is supportive of the scheme.

“The new plans look altogether better. The fact that the location is on the site of the existing cafe is good because it preserves the historic sightline and the views across the fields,” she said.

“On balance, it’s a much better design. It’s great that they’ve paid attention to the feedback they’ve got on consultation and taken those views on board.”