? the most uninviting toilet block in a marina, nominate yours

[ylop]

Portavadie on Loch Fyne has to have the most luxurious loos in a marina. Hair straighteners, even!

Whilst it does score points for modernity, I think for luxury - the bath in Troon might win!

Portavadie has got to be one of the fanciest marinas full stop. We always wondered how it came to be in such a remote place.

Well it was never designed as a Marina! It was a government-conceived idea as an oil rig building facility in the 70's which was built without fully understanding the market* and so was built with workers houses and everything but never opened. It really would have qualified for this thread until it was taken over as a marina - it was an uninviting concrete carbunkle with all the atmosphere of a ghost town.

I should say, eventually, it has become quite a transformation. I've no idea if anyone could have economically built what is there today without the investment/waste that went before. I'm pretty sure nobody would have decided to put it there from a road transport perspective but it does both fascinate and surprise me that it is busy, seemingly not just with visitors from the sea.

*a more generous view would be that the Scottish office did what governments should do for economic development and took on the risk of building the facility to show that Scotland was committed to building capacity/infrastructure for the oil industry whilst at the same time preventing private enterprise from littering the whole coast with abandoned yards/projects.

 

[sailaboutvic]

That's not unusual in many places in Europe .
I bet you took some with you next time

Having emerged from the cubicle somewhat bow legged , a Dutchman entered the block clutching a roll of toilet paper. I nervously asked if I could have a few sheets as I was not aware of the system. The bounder, looking away said no and entered a cubicle. Probably the most dastardly experience I have ever encountered abroad.

Perhaps the evolution of the "man bag" came about from the non supplying of toilet paper.

That's a shittie experience.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Whilst it does score points for modernity, I think for luxury - the bath in Troon might win!
Well it was never designed as a Marina! It was a government-conceived idea as an oil rig building facility in the 70's which was built without fully understanding the market* and so was built with workers houses and everything but never opened. It really would have qualified for this thread until it was taken over as a marina - it was an uninviting concrete carbunkle with all the atmosphere of a ghost town.

I should say, eventually, it has become quite a transformation. I've no idea if anyone could have economically built what is there today without the investment/waste that went before. I'm pretty sure nobody would have decided to put it there from a road transport perspective but it does both fascinate and surprise me that it is busy, seemingly not just with visitors from the sea.

*a more generous view would be that the Scottish office did what governments should do for economic development and took on the risk of building the facility to show that Scotland was committed to building capacity/infrastructure for the oil industry whilst at the same time preventing private enterprise from littering the whole coast with abandoned yards/projects.

The cost must have been enormous - the whole basin has been blasted out of hard rock; you can see the shot holes all round the edge! But there are many derelict facilities round the Clyde that were built when oil rigs looked like being a growth industry. I always remembered the slowly decaying docks west of Toward Point; used by a few fishing vessels, but otherwise abandoned.

 

[ylop]

The cost must have been enormous - the whole basin has been blasted out of hard rock; you can see the shot holes all round the edge! But there are many derelict facilities round the Clyde that were built when oil rigs looked like being a growth industry. I always remembered the slowly decaying docks west of Toward Point; used by a few fishing vessels, but otherwise abandoned.

Ardyne point would be a good marina although it would suffer from the pain to get to by car issue too. Not quite as “scandalous” as portavadie as it did actually make rigs and employed thousands for several years, whereas Portavadie made money for offshore owners and cost the government a fortune!

I know a rig was built at Hunterston too - where else on the clyde? Hunterston still has industrial potential rather than being destined to be a marina - the irony being the better travel links which would make it a handy site for leisure use also make it good for staff and materials for industrial use.