TV presenter Jules Hudson steps up to celebrate Britain’s best loos!

TV presenter Jules Hudson will be supporting the 2024 Loo of the Year Awards which take place at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull in January.

Jules, who lives in Herefordshire and is known for his presenting work on Escape To The Country and Springtime on the Farm (to name a few) will be leading the day-long event to celebrate the best providers of ‘away from home’ washrooms.

The Loo of the Year Awards are an established grading system to showcase the best toilets and wash room facilities across the UK. Every pub, restaurant, hotel, shopping centre, garden centre, caravan and campsite, office building or public facility which enters agrees to an independent inspection to ‘grade’ the quality of their loos. Each year, the best of the best are celebrated at a day-long event.

Jules said: “Whoever we are, one thing we all have in common is that we all need to use a loo! What’s more, we all now have far higher expectations of the facilities we use, be they in shops, restaurants, hotels or where we work. The idea of a ‘Loo of the Year’ award may seem like a bit of fun and we certainly welcome that during the awards themselves but it’s a serious business which, quite rightly, sets out to celebrate best practice. It aims to encourage, year on year, improvements across the country. I’m delighted to be hosting the awards once again in 2025.”

The Loo of the Year Awards was first established almost 40 years ago and in recent years had been run by Becky Wall BEM, who is the co-founder of a mobile toilet and washroom company A Plush Flush.

Becky said: “We’re thrilled that Jules has agreed to MC our event once more. He’s always been very supportive and we are so pleased to know him as a professional MC and also as a friend. He brings the right balance of gravitas and fun to an event which celebrates best practice in providing facilities we all need to use.”

Jules lives with his family in Herefordshire. His on-screen broadcasting career now stretches back over 20 years but he started his TV career behind the scenes on well-known series including Horizon and Time Team. He has also recently launched The Jules Store, making and offering quality items of furniture for sale – all of which he designs and makes himself at his home on the Welsh Borders.

He is also an accomplished public speaker and MC and this is the fourth year he’s led the Loo of the Year Awards.

“This sector, which often is very hidden, is fascinating,” Jules said. “It’s a big sector and being part of this awards shows social progress when it comes to providing facilities for public use, or for the use of staff. We are gradually seeing these facilities becoming more inclusive and taking into account the needs of many, including parents with small children, those with disabilities and those with hidden conditions which can mean they need to use a toilet quickly.”

Entry for this year’s awards are now closed with more than 1,500 businesses inspected and judged by independent inspectors since the summer. The 2025 awards will open for entries and nominations from 15 January.

Central to The Loo of the Year awards is a grading scheme where entrants agree to receive an unannounced visit from an inspector and each washroom is judged on upon 101 criteria which include cleanliness, décor, signage, accessibility and customer care.

Becky said: “This is about companies and business owners committing to excellence when it comes to this vital provision. Many will enter and then over the subsequent years improve their offering and seek to maintain high quality services. Each premises receives a grading which can be put on public display to show customers how seriously they take their personal comfort.”

This year, 64 businesses achieved the highest grading of ‘diamond’; 478 were graded as ‘platinum plus’; 988 as ‘platinum’; 25 rated ‘gold’ and one rated as ‘silver’. Not one business was rated at the basic grading of ‘bronze’.

Jules is hosting the day of celebration, sponsored by the global leading brand in professional hygiene Tork, at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull on Wednesday 15 January. Money will also be raised for the charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK and trophies will awarded in various categories for those brands consistently demonstrating outstanding customer service.