Update - 4 September 2024

We've now reopened after our renovation works - thanks to everyone who donated and to all of the volunteers who helped out. Come visit us and check out what we've done!

If you like the new toilets, please consider donating so that we can start thinking about further improvements to the building: Donate to fund the Cube's building improvements

DONATE HERE

We’re closing in August this year so that we can make our toilets less janky, more accessible and better for the environment.

What we're doing

Making our toilets more pleasant and efficient

We're making significant improvements to the quality of our toilets - highlights will include:

• cisterns that use less water (and aren't agonisingly slow to refill)
• new hardware (including seats that aren't hanging off)
• hand dryers that actually dry your hands
• efficient lighting and better ventilation
• baby change facilities
• improved drainage
• full redecoration

Improving accessibility

Our building is more than 100 years old, and a century of remodels and changes of use have made it very poor for accessibility. When we bought our building we committed to improving things, and we stand by that commitment.

We previously worked with architects to try to resolve these issues but the building quotes we got were significantly higher than anticipated (£1 million+) and the changes just weren't feasible. As a result of this, we're aiming to make more appropriate improvements over time.

As part of this phase we're going to:

• create a new ambulant-accessible toilet
• install new hand rails on our stairs
• reconfigure gender neutral WCs and urinals
• build a beer store with safer access for our volunteers

In future phases we want to go further and deal with the many level changes in the building. We don't think we can realistically do that right now, but we're building with those future changes in mind - for example, the accessible WC will be sized to accomodate wheelchairs, and we've made sure the current plans are compatible with future levelling out works.

Reducing our environmental impact

Our water heater is a hulking beast from the distant past. It takes up a lot of space and burns through an obscene amount of energy for the relatively small amount of hot water we use. We are replacing it with a more efficient model and reducing our carbon footprint.

All new plumbing has water conservation in mind.

Plans

Before

After

How you can help

The main challenge to this is funding - although the volunteers are putting in as many hours as is feasible, the works will also require specialist building, plumbing, tiling and electrical work.

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card on our Paypal donation page (mark it 'spend a penny').

You can also donate with a direct bank transfer to:

TRIODOS BANK

Account name: Microplex Holdings Bristol Ltd

Account number: 20282338

Sort code: 16-58-10

We're closed until September, but when we're back open you can also donate via cash or card in the bar.

Our target for these works is £28k.

Please note your payments will go to Microplex Holdings Bristol Ltd, a Community Land Trust formed by Cube volunteers for the express purpose of buying and maintaining the building. We bought the building back in 2013!

We're open to other fundraising ideas like raffles or events - email blueprint@cubecinema.com if you think you can help with this.