At our convenience

Legal London's return to social normality -  at least in midweek - is welcome but for one small detail. Obiter's regular post-deadline watering hole, the Seven Stars behind the Royal Courts of Justice in Carey Street, is now so busy on Thursday nights that certain essential facilities are coming under strain. 

As legal Londoners well know, the 'Stars idiosyncratic toilet facilities consist of just one ladies' and one gents', on the first floor up a tricky flight of 12 narrow stairs. A grab handle has been installed for patrons of a certain age, state of inebriation or both - along with a warning not to swing on it. On recent Thursdays, the queue for upstairs has been getting so long that renowned publican Roxy Beaujolais has had to hire a security guard to regulate the traffic. 

So far, it is working. But Obiter wonders how long the stairs and plumbing (the pub claims to date from 1602) can take the strain. However a solution may be at hand. 

We are old enough to recall when the 'Stars lacked any official toilet whatsoever. A rare lady customer might be allowed upstairs if she asked nicely. Gents - in those days, mainly barristers' clerks - were expected to relieve themselves in the public facility around the corner in Star Yard. 

The Grade II listed structure (pictured right), notable for sporting a royal coat of arms, was manufactured in McDowell Steven and Co Ironworks in Glasgow in 1851. It is still in place. Obiter understands that is now leased to the rather smart dwelling opposite, which was itself converted from a legal document warehouse. 

But surely the time has come to restore it to its original purpose? In these straitened times, we cannot expect much help from the London Borough of Camden, which sees fit to close its only nearby public convenience, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, at 6pm in winter. But perhaps the Chancery Lane community might step in to revive a unique piece of local history?