By Charlotte Jones
In collaboration with workers, trade unions and local campaigns, this project responds to rapidly changing circumstances in the hospitality sector since the UK government began to ease the national lockdown in July 2020. Due to concerns about the COVID-19 transmission risks involved in visiting public venues, the safe preparation and maintenance of these spaces for the public has required significant work for hospitality staff. The study explores the labour involved in new hygiene routines in the time of COVID-19, with particular attention on the cleaning and monitoring of toilets, and the impact these additional measures have had upon the lives, safety, and responsibilities of hospitality staff, and upon our sociological imagination of toilets for public use.
Beers, Burgers + Bleach: Hygiene, toilets, and hospitality in the time of COVID-19
