The Barbican said it introduced the gender-neutral toilets as part of its commitment to welcoming all

The renaming of the male and female lavatories at the Barbican Centre as gender-neutral has brought complaints that women now have to queue even longer.

Signs outside one of the venue’s cinema screens have been changed to say “gender-neutral with urinals” and “gender-neutral with cubicles”.

Samira Ahmed, a broadcaster on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, launched a tirade at the Barbican on Twitter, saying: “Women’s loo labelled ‘gender neutral’ so full of men who also have a ‘urinal’ to themselves. Totally ridiculous.”

In a further series of tweets, likely to refer to the debate over the use of women’s lavatories by transgender people, Ahmed said: “Give us back women’s loos for all women. Why do women lose our space to men!? All women can