For the privilege of using the privy, which cost about $7.3 million Cdn, customers must remove their shoes to avoid scuffing the gold tiles and spend the very capitalist fee of about $200 on Lam's jewelry. Peeks at the gold commode are free for now, but will soon cost about $21.

Lam Sai-wing got the idea as a schoolboy on the Chinese mainland when he learned that Lenin had wanted to make gold toilets for the public.

But Lenin might have been dismayed to find that the toilet is only for the use of customers who spend more than £900 on jewellery.

The ceiling is decorated with ruby, sapphire, emerald and amber. Even the floor on the doorway to the "ancient Roman-style" washroom is embedded with gold bars.

Mr Lam came to Hong Kong from mainland China at age 22 and said his business took off after he worshipped the goddess of mercy, Kuan Yin, at a temple on the Kowloon Peninsula.

He now has a nine feet statue of the goddess - in pure gold, naturally - worth HK$15 million (£1.3m).

"It's a good selling point. It's a dream come true."