A HOSPITAL toilet, supermarket and shopping centre are among the area’s top places to meet for gay sex, according to a list published online.
The Cruising Gays website has a top to bottom rundown of recommended places in Lewisham and Greenwich for cruising and cottaging - slang for romping in public loos.
Each place is given an Amazon-style star rating out of five and includes tips on how to make the most of your visit, how to get there and even whether each place has disabled access.
Surprisingly, a toilet in Queen Elizabeth Hospital gets a mention. The site advises: “Walk past the prayer room and the toilets are on the left.”
One user says: “I was looking to p*ss, the guy in the next cubicle was looking for more. Without meaning to sound cheesy, I was willing to oblige.“
Elsewhere in the borough, toilets in Woolwich’s Vincent Road and Herbert Road , Plumstead Common and Thamesmead town centre all get a favourable review.
King William Walk’s toilets are particularly popular attracting “a lot of tourists”.
Meanwhile the toilets on Charlton Park Road attract “all sorts, from gorgeous to grim”.
In Lewisham, the shopping centre’s East Walk outdoor urinals get a three-star rating for its mixed crowd of “old, young, black and white” men.
One user warns: “Genuine guys go for a p*ss, but a lot of gays and discrete enclosed urinals so you can zip up if anyone dodgy comes.”
Travellers to Hilly Fields Park are advised to head to the back of the bowls club house and warned to watch out for dog walkers.
And potential cottagers are advised that the number 47 bus stops right outside Giffin Street toilets behind Deptford’s Wavelengths leisure centre, where the middle cubicle has a spyhole, described as “small, but enough to see action in the next cubicle.”
It is not wheelchair accessible and users are warned: “On some days there's a very nosy toilet attendant, old white man in his sixties keeps his office door open and talks to passers by for hours.
“Also you get the odd crack addict coming in to have a sniff.”
Beckenham Place Park is the borough’s only hotspot to get a five-star rating.
A spokesman for South London Healthcare Trust, which runs Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said: "Our Estates Department have investigated this and can confirm that there is a gap of about 1cm near the lock on one of the cubicle doors.
"It has been reported to the on-site team and repairs to close the gap will be put into immediate effect.
"We will also be contacting the website to ask them to remove the item."
OUT AND ABOUT IN LEWISHAM
Lewisham Shopping Centre
Crystal Palace Park Parade
Ladywell Fields
Giffin Street toilets
Beckenham Place Park
Hilly Fields
....AND GREENWICH
Oxleas Woods
King William Walk toilets, Greenwich
Court Road toilets, Eltham
Arches Leisure Centre
Herbert Road toilets
Blackheath
North Greenwich tube toilets
Woolwich Sainsbury's
Plumstead Common toilets
Thamesmead town centre toilets
Maryon Wilson Park
Greenwich recreation ground
Charlton Park Road
A BRIEF HISTORY OF COTTAGING
The term comes from the appearance of old-fashioned toilet blocks which look like small cottages.
Traditionally they have been found at busy places like railway stations and university campuses.
Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 engaging in sexual activity in a public lavatory is illegal.
It is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 6 months or a fine.
Famous people caught cottaging include actor John Gielgud and pop singer George Michael.
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