Gillian and Mick Berry at the history centre

by Nick Lillitos

The toilets at a new £12 million council-run building in Maidstone are causing faces to flush, say concerned visitors.

Both men and women are feeling embarrassed and sensitive having to sit side by side in locked cubicles, with just a thin wall partition separating them at the new Kent History and Library Centre.

Complaints have been lobbed at Kent County Council who tell them it is not the first time the issue has been raised.

One visitor, Gillian Berry, of Courtlands, Teston, said she recently went into the washroom area with her husband Mick and he was so embarrassed standing there with women and children that he walked out.

"There was this lady outside some five cubicle doors that are there," said Mrs Berry.

"She was a grandmother with three accompanying children who told me her husband felt the same way. She was very embarrassed.

Kent History and Library Centre, James Whatman Way, Maidstone

"We phoned the complaints people at KCC to tell them what we thought and a very polite man said it's not the first time he had picked this one up. It clearly is becoming an issue and he promised to pass on our concerns."

The main entry door does bear a sign saying it is a unisex toilet.

But Mrs Berry said: "Half the time it does not register with people as they go through, and even those who do read it assume that there are two separate floor areas inside, but it's not. The toilets are just side by side for everybody."

The building, hailed by the county council as 'Kent's history and memory' stands in James Whatman Way, housing more than eight miles of historical documents dating back to 699 AD.

KCC declined to specify how many complaints it had received.

In a statement, the authority said: "Unisex toilets are commonplace in many new public buildings and allow mothers to accompany their young sons and fathers to accompany their young daughters to the toilet and give them peace of mind.

"We have been responding and reacting to any concerns that our customers have expressed, including putting up more noticeable signs that the toilets are unisex."