At last, Simon finds a frame bed that accommodateds a chamber pot

AVOIDING a trip downstairs to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night could easily send you potty.

That is the verdict of a survey carried out by the BEN to see if it is still possible to use a chamber pot in the bedroom in the year 2000.

As reported in the BEN, more than 350 council homes in Bolton still do not have an upstairs toilet.

Kearsley councillor John Rothwell said the situation which forces tenants to either trek downstairs in the middle of the night or use a makeshift loo in their bedroom was totally unacceptable.

And he said: "Most modern beds aren't designed to fit a pot under anyway!"

So the BEN decided to test just how many beds a 'gazunder' does go under.

First task, and not an easy one, is to find a chamber pot.

Chamber pots are generally more decorative than functional nowadays. Some are even classed as collectable.

Many are now found in window boxes and gardens in use as plant pots.

Chamber pots can be bought and sold on the Internet and there is even a museum in Munich dedicated to the art of gazunder design.

Bolton Antiques Centre came up with the goods and kindly loaned a white pot (valued at about £15) with a pleasant landscape painted on it.

The chamber pot was then taken to Bedland to put it to the test.

Bemused staff at the Bark Street showroom gave a guided tour of the divans and metal and wood frame beds.

Owner Tom Openshaw said: "In all my time here I must admit no one has ever asked me to sell them a bed especially so it could fit a chamber pot under!"

All the divan beds were impossible to fit the pot under, leaving two options -- risk stepping into or falling over a freshly filled pot at the side of the bed, or going downstairs to the loo at the back of the kitchen.

But most of the frame beds could accommodate a gazunder -- should anyone want to use one.

But, if the trade at Bedland is typical of bed popularity across Bolton, most bedrooms in town will have a divan.

Mr Openshaw said: "I would say at least 80 per cent of our sales are in divans. Most people prefer them to frame beds."