YOU'LL have to spend a bit more than a penny to secure a former toilet block on Weymouth seafront that has gone on the market.

The former public toilets accessed via Bond Street are being sold along with a four-bedroom apartment, which estate agents say offers a balcony and sea views, for offers over £250,000.

The property being sold by Goadsby includes the public toilets on the ground floor and lower level.

It says the premises are suitable for a variety of uses, including a hotel or residential, subject to planning permission.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council voted to sell-off the public toilets at Bond Street in September last year, however the council vowed that they would not be closed until a suitable alternative was in place for the summer season, with £5,000 set aside to cover the costs.

At a meeting of the council's management committee earlier this month, members were assured that a temporary arrangement had been put in place.

Members were assured that the temporary facility would not be Portaloos, as feared by one councillor, and that something "better" would be in place come the tourist season.

The decision to close the Bond Street toilets was taken after it was revealed the council's 15 public toilet sites cost the public purse £500,000 a year Strategic director Martin Hamilton said: "The Bond Street toilets were in no way a facility the council could be proud of.”

Back in 2011, Weymouth was accused of having the worst public toilets in England, with visitors citing the facilities in Bond Street and at Greenhill as being in a particular state of disrepair.

When it was first revealed that the toilet block was being sold, a number of residents raised concerns about the loss of the public amenity.

One man, who asked not to be named, said: "Not having one public toilet in the centre of a major seaside town like this is unbelievable. The only one now is the 24 hour one on the Esplanade but that is often occupied by homeless people.

"There are so many people up in arms about this, it is absolutely preposterous."

Another resident added: "People are distressed by this, I have seen women with children and older parents’ desperate fort somewhere to go."