According to the Metro, an entrepreneurial homeowner has decided to try to flog off his spare toilet for rental at £3,000 a month – that’s 6,000 visits per month if charged at 50p per pee.

Spotting a ‘gap in the market’, builder James Atherton is looking to rent or sell a standalone loo he owns inside a block of flats at the bottom of Highgate West Hill.

It is by a bus turnaround point and next to the bottom of Hampstead Heath.

The facility is being promoted with a sign on the wall offering a ‘toilet space’, hoping to catch the attention of bus drivers who need stop to relieve themselves at Parliament Hill Fields.

Mr Atherton also predicted a surge in interest if Camden Council follows through with its plans to close the public toilets in Pond Square in Highgate village.

Victorian toilets at the entrance to Hampstead Heath were demolished in the 1990s.

Mr Atherton’s toilet has been left unused for many years but is in good condition, according to the vendor, and could also double-up as a storage room.

It is up for rent at an asking price of £3,000 a month but Mr Atherton said he would also consider selling a 20-year lease for £20,000.

‘The bus drivers in Highgate don’t have a toilet,’ he said. ‘I thought they might be interested in buying it, or maybe three of them could get together and rent it.

‘I hope they don’t shut the public toilets in Pond Square because they are needed but it would be good news for me in a business sense.’

Despite receiving a ‘lot of interest’ in the toilet, he has not yet received a suitable offer. Buyers will have to maintain the toilet themselves.

‘Whoever takes it will have to clean and maintain it themselves and use it as a toilet,’ said Mr Atherton said. ‘And no parties.’