Every July, the Durham Miners' Gala brings crowds into the city for the march from the Market Place to the racecourse and the service at the Cathedral. It is the busiest day on the local calendar, and a reminder of what Durham really is: a small medieval peninsula built for pilgrims and students, not lorries. LooLocator lists independent portable toilet suppliers covering Durham and the wider county, from firms used to timed deliveries in the historic centre to those working sites out past the bypass.
Toilet hire from Carlisle covering Cumbria, the north of England and Scotland. Began in 1989 as Borderloos, with portable toilets, luxury trailers, accessible units, urinals, showers and welfare units.
Bull Loos, the toilet-hire arm of Bull Tankers at Stokesley, hires standard, accessible and luxury portable toilets plus urinal units for events and work sites across Teesside and the wider North East.
Cart-a-Loo is a family-run business at Hexham that hires luxury loos, mobile shower units and refrigerated trailers for weddings, festivals and corporate events across Northumberland and the North.
Hires portable toilets, accessible toilets and urinals across Durham, Newcastle, Sunderland and Teesside, running a fleet kept for events only.
Founded in 1949, Chippindale Plant supplies mobile welfare units and portable toilets for hire across the North of England.
Luxury toilet trailers and accessible toilets for Cumbria and northern England into southern Scotland, with more than 3,000 events served over fifteen years.
Hires portable toilets and mobile welfare units for construction sites, events, private parties and emergency use, with regular servicing and tank emptying, covering County Durham, Tyne and Wear and the North of England.
Supplies portable toilets, luxury trailers and accessible units across North East England, with every unit delivered fully serviced.
Event Support Services, based in the Northumberland countryside, hires premium and luxury toilet trailers with vacuum flush, plus refrigerated trailer units, for weddings and functions across the North East.
Hires luxury toilet and washroom trailers for weddings, parties, corporate events and festivals, with units for up to 150 or 250 guests, across Tyne and Wear, County Durham, Cleveland and North Yorkshire.
Specialist supplier to TV and film productions, hiring portable toilets, luxury trailers, accessible toilets, urinals, showers and welfare units across Scotland and the north of England.
A family-run firm serving North East England with portable and accessible toilet hire, having supported more than 100 events.
Based in Bishop Auckland, Jeff Dobson Loo Hire supplies portable toilets and disabled-access units to the events trade throughout County Durham and the North East, alongside its marquee and furniture hire.
Hires a luxury toilet trailer for weddings, parties, barbecues, corporate events and festivals, suited to gardens or alongside a marquee and catering for up to 120 guests, in County Durham.
With more than 20 years in the business, Mobaloo hires portable toilets, luxury trailers and accessible units across Yorkshire, the North East, North West and East Midlands. Testimonials include York Racecourse.
A small family firm in Northumberland's Tyne Valley, Pretty Privies hires luxury toilet trailers, with fresh flowers included, for weddings and private and corporate functions across the North East.
An independent, family-run plant firm in Hartlepool, Seymour (Plant & Equipment) Ltd hires portaloos and welfare cabins alongside its wider construction fleet across the North East and North Yorkshire.
Barnard Castle firm hiring portable toilets, luxury toilet trailers, showers, freestanding urinals and accessible units for construction sites, weddings, fetes and large events across County Durham and the North of England.
Durham's historic core sits on a peninsula formed by a tight loop of the River Wear, and the layout predates anything built for delivery vehicles. Silver Street is pedestrianised for most of the day, with lorry access generally limited to early morning and evening slots, and the Durham Road User Charge Zone covers Saddler Street, the Market Place and much of the Bailey, so most vehicles entering pay a daily charge. The banks up from the river, Framwellgate Bank, Elvet Bank and Claypath, are steep and narrow, and a handful of bridges are the only crossings.
Outside the peninsula, access gets easier. Gilesgate, Neville's Cross, Belmont and Framwellgate Moor sit on conventional roads, and the A167, A690 and the A1(M) make cross-county deliveries simple. Durham University's colleges are scattered across the city rather than on one campus, so a unit destined for a college site often needs clearing through a porters' lodge instead of a kerbside drop. When you request quotes, flag whether the site sits inside the charge zone, on a pedestrianised street, or on college land with its own access rules.
The Durham Miners' Gala, known locally as the Big Meeting, is the single biggest date in the local calendar and one of the largest labour movement gatherings anywhere in Europe. Bands and banners assemble in the Market Place from mid morning before the march out to the racecourse and the afternoon service at the Cathedral, and organisers bring in toilets along the route and at the racecourse itself to cope with tens of thousands of visitors in one afternoon. Outside gala day, event hire in Durham tends to follow the university calendar and the county show and fete circuit rather than one big season.
Longer hires are mostly building work: conservation area jobs on the peninsula, student housing schemes on the edges of the city, and general site welfare across County Durham. Typical weekly rates for a standard unit with servicing run around £25 to £38, though anything inside the charge zone or up a steep bank can cost more to service. Suppliers listed here also cover towns further out across the county, so it is worth checking coverage before assuming a Durham-based firm reaches somewhere like Consett or Bishop Auckland.
On private land, such as a driveway, garden or building site, you do not need council permission. If a unit needs to stand on a public road, pavement or verge, including anywhere inside the Durham Road User Charge Zone or on a pedestrianised street, you need permission from Durham County Council before it is delivered.
Yes, but timing matters. Silver Street is pedestrianised through most of the day, and Saddler Street and the Market Place sit inside the Durham Road User Charge Zone, so deliveries to the peninsula usually happen early morning or evening. Suppliers will want to know exactly where a vehicle can stop before booking.
Expect roughly £25 to £38 a week for a standard unit on longer hires, and £85 to £140 for an event weekend such as the Durham Miners' Gala. A unit needing an early morning slot inside the charge zone, or delivery up one of the city's steep banks, may cost a little more.