Soho Dairy co-founders Robin Smith and Keith Bickel

A BUSY road that “smells like piss in the summer” is set to lose another public toilet.

LIFT Coffee has submitted a proposal to turn the underground loos in Broadwick Street, Soho, into a café and events space.

The operator secured a 25-year lease two years ago and could spend as much as £2million on creating a coffee-themed workspace, according to city council documents.

Jerusalem Falafel’s Mohammed Mtour, 36, said: “If you’re a customer and standing there and smell bad smells, you think it’s coming from the business.”

Soho Neighbourhood Forum research, to be published later this year, suggests two-thirds of people visiting Soho each week have witnessed public urination or defecation.

Broadwick Street public toilet

Robin Smith, 63, who runs Soho Dairy, said: “What you’ve got is people rushing out after a drink and that’s a problem.

“People have moved out because people were p****** through their letterboxes.”

Tim Lord, chair of the Soho Society, said: “In 2022 the council decided to close the underground public toilets in Broadwick Street and to make them unavailable for public use for the next 25 years by granting a lease to a coffee shop chain. No one at the council can explain why.”

Westminster City Council said Berwick Street is washed down daily by its street cleaners.

Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg, cabinet member for city management, said: “The council is spending £6million this year on upgrading our public toilets in the West End. Currently­ we have 12 public toilet facilities across Soho, Mayfair, and Covent Garden, and we provide an additional 25 temporary toilets in the West End at weekends and during special events.”