Gossiping girlfriends will be bowled over by the latest in toilet technology at a Harrogate showbar.

Applause, a £1 million showbar and restaurant due to open next week, is the first bar in North Yorkshire to feature the unusual "twobicles".

Joint owner Hayley Walters, 28, came up with the idea after five years of watching women using the toilet at her other Harrogate bar, Courts, in Crown Place.

"Girls always go off to the toilet together," she told the Evening Press speaking from the eight-bowl ladies toilet in the Station Parade bar.

"With this new twobicle we offer them the chance to use the facilities at the same time.

"I am sure it will prove very popular indeed with the ladies."

She added that the gents toilets featured nothing out of the ordinary.

The Harrogate bar, which is co-owned by Hayley and 32-year-old James Freeman, will provide punters with much more than just a novelty toilet.

The showbar also features a 180-seater restaurant and live cabaret every night including dancing troupes, comedians, singers and DJs.