The public toilets on Parker’s Piece have now fully reopened, to further boost the number of public facilities now available in Cambridge city centre for residents and visitors.

Five free-to-use self-contained cubicles, including one wheelchair accessible cubicle, are now available once again on the Gonville Place side of the historic open space, following a period of closure since 2025.

Cambridge City Council provides and manages public toilet facilities at thirteen different locations across the city, most with accessible toilets and many with baby-changing facilities and Changing Places toilets. 

All of the council-run toilets in Cambridge are free to use, apart from the recently-opened new toilet facilities at Silver Street, which are predominantly used by visiting tourists. a charge of £1 to use Silver Street helps cover additional costs of the cleaning schedule in a high-footfall facility.

Cllr Martin Smart, Cabinet Member for Nature, Open Space and City Services, said: “The council remains committed to providing the right toilets in the places where they are most needed and we are doing everything we can to keep as many toilets as possible free to use. 

“The council does not have a statutory requirement to provide public toilets and many councils across the country face rising costs, increased demand for services, and reductions in funding. But we have listened to the arguments in favour of reopening Parker’s Piece toilets – to follow those at Quayside, which we reopened at Easter – and are investing significantly to do so, and to keep them well-maintained.”

Cllr Tim Bick, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, who pushed for action on reopening some closed public toilets as part of negotiations over the leadership of the council earlier this year, said: “I am very pleased that this delivers on our agreement with the Labour administration to re-open public toilets which they had closed a year ago when they had a majority on the council. For us, adequate provision of public toilets is a mark of a civilised city.  We feel the original closures were a mistake and we welcome this willingness to rethink. We support a high priority for basic, everyday amenities like public loos – for residents and visitors alike – and see this re-opening as a positive step.”