Another Strike for Down Town Nassau, Bahamas

Jerome PInder

On Friday past we had two family members visiting from the US.  Against my better advice, they spent midday Friday Down Town shopping.  For one of them her visit was a first and she insisted on visiting the "World Famous Nassau Straw Market."

As expected, they found Down Town to be dirty and disgusting.  The Straw Market overcrowded and filthy.

While I am not surprised at the above, I was surprised that when stopping into a restaurant, after having paid for and eaten a sandwich, they were told by staff of the eatery that there was no public restroom that they could use.

Is it not the law as part of their license that a public restaurant have public restrooms for its patrons?  If not, it should be.

Frankly, public restrooms Down Town for our Tourist has been a problem for years.  I have traveled to many other islands on Cruise Ships over the years and have always found public restrooms through out the City centre to use.  One of the best examples was the Cayman Islands that had restrooms available for a nominal fee of $0.50 to $1.00.  This fee included a cleaner on site at the restrooms ensuring that they were spotless.  I was happy to pay $1 for the use of a clean restroom.  Such a small thing that makes a big difference.

But for a public restaurant not to have restroom facilities for its patrons is beyond me.  I won't be buying a sandwich from there anytime soon.