When at the Barbican, don’t go…
NewsAn inconvenienced concertgoer has sent us this observation:
… the wonderful concert contrasted with the woeful state of the toilets, which didn’t flush properly and hand driers didn’t work with a notice apologising, but saying they are forty years old. Our world class musicians are let down by the failure of those responsible to make the customer experience to be similarly high-class.
I began to understand why Sir Simon may have decided his future would be mainly in Bavaria.
Barbican is a nice place, but they have to reimagine their toilets (restrooms). Men’s ones are just horrible for the so-called gentlemen. It’s like you’re visiting Berlin Phil but in the intermission it’s my father’s countryside village with that nice spot behind the tree where no one sees you
The Barbican toilets are mostly located in one area. They are old and there are not enough of them. To replace them would require digging up a lot of concrete and either closing the Barbican temporarily or getting 100 portaloos. They need to spend the money and build new toilets before refurbishing the old. No point boasting about the biggest arts centre when you cannot wash your hands.
Oh, yes, that horrible long trough of the gents’, reeking, minimal cubicles… Horribly cramped and minimal gents’ facilities upstairs. Memories of the Barbican c.2005. Is it still as bad? These things make a difference. I always judge places by their toilet facilities.
When I’ve to go to a concert, it’s in my job description, I make sure I’m there long before and can check the toilets. That will define my evening out. I have strong memories of a Mahler 6 (failed to flush) and a La Mer (flooding), and much enjoyed a Mendelssohn/Brahms/Ravel concert were it smelled so nice and everything was working properly and I had enough space.
Sally
That was quite informative.
It has nothing to with Rattle or the LSO. The Barbican toilets are an insult to the so-called civilised world. They have been in this most disgusting condition for yonks. This long-term situation is a reflection both of the famously incompetent Barbican management and of the City of London, one of the wealthiest urban areas on the planet. Clearly neither is doing anything to deal with the problem, which means the centre is not a world class arts venue nor a civilised place to visit. The loos aren’t the only thing badly wrong with the place. You should go and see it. You may never return. An embarrassing shambles!
You should see the backstage toilets/facilities for the musicians. Dressing rooms with dead mice. Wet carpets from flooding toilets. Showers don’t work. An inadequate artists bar where they charge for hot water. Not a conducive place to work yet the backstage staff are wonderful.
Barbican toilets are smelly and broken.
Most people would have thought the solution was to call a plumber.
Barbican management: let’s spend some money on new signage to make them “gender neutral”. Job done.
So much that becomes gender neutral turns smelly and broken.
What an unnecessary and vile thing to say
The Ladies’ loos at the Barbican are ok. There’s always a queue though and they’re in the sub-sub basement. Fine if you’re a fit young thing but any knee,hip or ankle problems and it becomes an ordeal
The ones down by cinema 1 are “gender neutral” now. Nothing else has been changed except for the signage. There is still one side that has urinals in it and the other that doesn’t. So what happens in practice is that everyone mills around awkwardly trying to find a member of staff who can tell them which one is which. An absolute farce.
All my life I’ve wondered what it would be like to have been a fly on the wall at the committee meeting that signed-off and approved this total monstrosity.
Just demolish it, for the love of God.
Why? I love it, it gives me the feeling of being up-to-date and really modern. Dwelling through the many corridors trying to find the concert hall or toilets or garderobe is quite an uplifting experience! Well-thought-out design.
Sally
Well, I imagine many of the string instruments were considerably older than 40 years … and they work perfectly.
Tripadviser the place and smudge the Barbican’s facebook page
The Barbican is obviously interred with their difficulties.
If you think the Barbican is bad, try the Southbank……
It’s all true! The gents have been a disgrace for years. The wash basins are operated by pressing your foot on a rubber bulb on the floor – you either get no water at all or a high pressure jet that goes everywhere. Perhaps the City of London Corporation ought to look into it.
Contact tom.sleigh@cityoflondon.gov.uk, chairman of the Corporation of London’s Barbican Committee
In September, after the wonderful concert by the Bavarian Staatsoper orchestra, I responded to the Barbican’s immediate emailed request for ‘feedback’ with the following:
1. Wanting a quick coffee before the concert I went to the small ground floor coffee bar – not possible as the coffee machine was broken. 2. Went up to take my seats in the balcony, couldn’t go to the toilet as the gents was out of order. 3. Went down to the ‘main’ toilets on level -1 to be met with a sign on the door directing me to the theatre ‘exit’ [sic] 4. Once through the quite considerable congestion of everyone trying to enter and exit the single door, I found multiple cubicles ‘out of order’ and I was unable to wash my hands as multiple sinks were ‘out of order’.
It was indeed an embarrassment.
The experience reminded me of living in Russia in the late 1990s, when nothing worked and the simplest of activities required patience and determination (and some cash for bribes!).
Clearly very little has changed at the Barbican in six months!
Barbican creators reading these comments and deciding:
Let’s low the quality of concerts to match the state of restrooms !
Yep, they are disgusting. Last time there wasn’t even any working water (can you believe it)
They were bad pretty much from when they opened in 1981 as well as being just about as far away from as it is possible to get! Mobility friendly – not!
Festival Hall was even worse: smaller/fewer, but at least some on each level. Were they improved in the refurbishment? I never use them!
The Barbican’s toilets have always been terrible, smelly and dysfunctional. They are probably the worst toilets at any arts venue in the Country and are a disgrace.
There have been some attempts to make the sinks and hand-dryers work, without any noticeable success.
They need to be completely rethought and replaced, but this will no doubt be difficult and expensive.
Replacing them with something that works might also run foul of the Barbican’s Grade II listed status. As the most brutalist part of the Barbican’s Brutalist heritage, no doubt English Heritage will regard them as a ‘national treasure’.
The Barbicans proximity to the ancient Roman city wall may be a clue to the real age of the “facilities”
Maybe 90-minute concerts would be the solution to the restroom problem?
So where do you go when the 90 minutes are up?
Seems typical of a much wider problem – administrators who can’t administer.
It affects government, local government, the NHS and …… Barbican toilets.
I am sure their new director DEI hire, since she fills all of the diversity check boxes, will fix it all in a quick jiffy.
The City of London Surveyors office will need to compile a full report to fully get to the bottom of the issue before any works can begin. It’s far from the only issue plaguing the Barbican estate as residents will tell you.
IMO if you accept a knighthood you should work in the UK.
I work near the Barbican and pass its rain-streaked concrete facade most days. Once you have ignored the outside, groped your way through the Stygian gloom of the interior maze to the concert hall itself, it is just lovely. Went to a fantastic Jenufa in January to be greeted by the new gender-neutral signage outside the basement loos. Not happy with that myself. And I once heard Simon Halsey say there isn’t a rehearsal or performance venue of any sort in London that has sufficient facilities for an orchestra and a chorus.
Indeed the most disgusting toilets in any major concert venue in Europe; the smell of cow stable is a disgrace.
I was at the Big Bruckner Weekend at the Glasshouse/Sage in Gateshead/Newcastle; England’s best concert hall with clean and functioning toilets …
Not just the Barbican Concert Hall, the whole Barbican area or maybe even City of London is in a woeful state. The Corporation would much rather spend their resources allowing the construction of new glass edifice than on basic maintenance on the already existing buildings. The whole of Barbican is run down, some doors not working, lifts sometimes not working, leaks all over the house, frequent sewage problems around the whole city, frequently no running water or no hot water, sometimes, to name just a few of the problems.
I for one was a big fan of the very continental pedal operated taps in the communal toilets and now they’re opting for sensors and I can’t think why. The air driers also do not work. It’s a shame since, in fact, the entire Barbican estate was and would be a marvellous haven in the heart of London, were the Corporation to do just a bit of upkeep. The attention to detail from the architects and everyone involved in the construction of the site is astounding and, just fifty years later, is going to waste.
Sir Simon went to Bavaria because of restrooms?
Bavarian flushing toilets are famous all over the world and draw thousands of tourists every year. Their design is the result of the necessities during the annual ‘Oktoberfest’ where gallions of beer have to be processed into various directions.