A few days ago, while in Valletta, I had occasion to make use of the public convenience on the corner of Strait Street with Old Theatre Street.

It was not a pleasant experience. The stench of stale urine – and worse – was already detectable from the street – once inside, it was overpowering.

Besides this, the place is in a shocking state - inside as well as outside. Plaster falling from the walls to reveal deteriorating stonework; stained and cracked tiling; makeshift piping repaired with black tape; stained urinals; lidless toilet bowl, etc. The “Star Turn”, however, are the wash-hand basins and the "cupboard" on which they stand.

Mere words cannot really give a true picture of the state of this place, which one would hardly expect to find in some third-world slum.

Since this facility is right in the heart of our capital city and must be visited by hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists every year, one shudders to think what impression it makes on them. So much for the many thousands we spend advertising Malta abroad.

Victor Laiviera

Naxxar