Website names sleepy Yorks town as tops for cottaging

On Ilkley Moor ba t'at

By Linda Harrison • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 19th March 2001 22:42 GMT

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Residents of a sleepy Yorkshire town are upset after their local toilets were named on a Website as a prime spot for gay sex.

The public loos in Riverside Gardens, Ilkley, were described as a daytime cruising place for "mature guys" on a Website that lists the world's top cottaging locations, The Wharfedale Observer reports.

The site, which the newspaper said it would not name "for decency reasons", lets surfers arrange meetings and ask for recommendations on the best places to go for casual outdoor sex.

Ilkley got its mention on the site after an anonymous user asked if anyone knew of any cruising areas in the area.

Two days later the response came back: "Ilkley toilets (down by the riverside) are still active!!!!! Mostly mature guys (by that I mean over 35). I have only been during the day so not sure about nights."

But anyone thinking of visiting Ilkley's facilities for this purpose should not expect a warm Yorkshire welcome from the locals.

Local policeman PC Peter Stone commented: "It's very easy to say they just want locking up and the key throwing away."

"But we have to look at a variety of ways of trying to police this particular issue". ®