Make your loos public and we'll pay you a grand, BoJo tells London firms

Businesses in London are being offered grants of up to £1,000 if they allow members of the public to use their toilets.

In an effort to tackle the lack of public conveniences in the capital, mayor Boris Johnson said all companies should sign up to an initiative which rewards business owners between £600 and £1,000 a year for permitting passers-by to spend a penny irrespective of whether they make a purchase.

According to a London Assembly report, since 1999 the city has experienced the highest decline in the number of local authority owned and run public toilets in the country. The problem is particularly acute for older people, those with disabilities and families with young children.

"The Community Toilet Scheme is a common sense and cost effective solution to the lack of public toilets in London," Johnson said. "It is also an ingenious way around the high costs normally associated with running them."

Seven London boroughs are already running the scheme with Richmond in south London the first to set it up.