The Loovre

The Loovre is a small guesthouse and curiosity occupying one of the few surviving Victorian-era public toilet buildings in the north of England. The ornate structure, near the town centre, has been converted into accommodation — a fact that gives it a certain notoriety in lists of unusual places to stay.

Even if you are not staying there, the building is worth a glance as a well-preserved example of Victorian municipal design applied to a utilitarian purpose. Berwick has several such architectural oddities — the town accumulated civic buildings across several centuries without ever quite rationalising what it had, which makes for an interesting urban texture.

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A story
The building that houses the Loovre was constructed as a public convenience in the Victorian era, when Berwick was prosperous enough to invest in quality civic infrastructure. Victorian public toilets were often built to a surprisingly high standard — they needed to be, given that convincing a sceptical public to use them required demonstrating that the facilities were clean and respectable. This particular example was ornate enough to survive long after its original function became obsolete.

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