Toilets at Banbury's Castle Quay recognised at national awards

Employees at Castle Quay in Banbury's town centre. The toilet facilities at Castle Quay Shopping Centre in the Banbury town centre have been recognised at the annual Loo of the Year awards ceremony. (Submitted photo)

Banbury' s Castle Quay has announced its toilet facilities have been recognised at the annual Loo of the Year 2021 Awards.

The centre has been given the platinum status award for male, female, accessible, baby change facilities and changing places facility, as well as an additional overall diamond grade award for the centre - the highest possible award available.

The Loo of the Year awards invite submissions from across the country throughout the year, with nominated facilities being awarded bronze, silver, gold and platinum grading certificates according to the standards upheld in their facilities. Castle Quay’s toilets received the highest grade of platinum due to the exceptionally high standards achieved. The centre’s toilets were acknowledged as offering the very highest level of cleanliness.

Oliver Wren, centre director at Castle Quay Shopping Centre, stands at one of the entrances to the shopping centre

New baby changing facilities and Changing Places toilets were opened at the centre at the end of 2019 and meet the modern needs of Banbury’s shoppers. The centre even offers a baby bottle warming facility from its Customer Service Desk, located in front of the baby changing facilities.

The Loo of the Year Awards are owned and run independently and since their introduction in 1987, the annual awards competition has strived to focus the spotlight on recognising and rewarding the very best washrooms throughout the UK and Ireland. It is considered the ‘washroom standard’ and a Loo of the Year Award is an established benchmark of quality. The physical awards will be presented to the centre’s management team on January 14, 2022 at the Annual Award Ceremony in Solihull.

Oliver Wren, centre director at Castle Quay Shopping Centre, said: “Our cleaning team do an absolutely terrific job, day in day out. Having toilets that reach the highest standards of cleanliness is essential – we want our shoppers to have the very best experience they can whenever they visit the centre.

"Achieving platinum status in every single category is quite an achievement – let alone the fact we were awarded the diamond award overall. I am very proud of what our cleaning team have achieved, and we will ensure these standards are maintained and we win big again next year!”