A PLEA has been made to the owners of the Forest Shopping Centre to clean up and open the public toilets in the centre.

Pearl Chew, of Arford Common, told The Herald that she believed the toilets in the centre were Òa disgraceÓ and were constantly either ÒfilthyÓ or closed.

But centre manager Jane Loddy has said that the toilets are constantly vandalised by some of the people who are using them.

Mrs Chew has said that she is becoming increasing annoyed with the centreÕs managers about the toilets which she says are always in a mess.

She said: ÒMost of the time the time the toilets are dirty but just recently when you go to use them very often they are closed.

ÒWhat is the point of having the public conveniences for the use of people going shopping if people canÕt use them?Ó

Mrs Chew said that she split doing the majority of her shopping between the Forest Shopping Centre and LiphookÕs village centre but added that the state of the toilets was starting to put her off shopping in Bordon.

She said: ÒWhen I shop in Liphook I donÕt have any problems, the supermarkets have public conveniences of their own.Ó

Mrs Chew said that she did not like having to cross the road and ask to use the toilet facilities in the Forest Community Centre when the toilets in the shopping centre were closed.

ÒIt is not every now it seems to be happening all of the time.Ó she said.

ÒI would be nice if we could have a nice public convenience in the centre that we could use.Ó

Centre manager Jane Loddy told The Herald that she hoped that over the next few weeks shoppers will notice a difference.

ÒWe are changing our cleaning contractors in a couple of weeks and I hope that there will be a distinct differenceÓ she said

ÒWe will also be having a cleaner who will be cleaning the toilets again in the afternoons because obviously once they start getting use they start to get get a little messy.Ó

But the manager said that the underlying problem with the toilets, and the reason why they are sometimes closed, is local people vandalising them.

ÒIt is some of the very people visiting the centre that are causing the problems.Ó

Mrs Loddy told The Herald that among the vandalism acts which have been carried out recently have been the sink being ripped off the wall, broken seats and even toilet rolls being set on fire inside the toilets.

She said: ÒThese things keep happening and they are causing a real headache but we are doing what we can.Ó