Blackfriars | 10th July 2018

Location: Ladybellegate St, Gloucester, GL1 2HS
Date of visit: 10th July 2018

Parking

There are seven accessible bays located outside the Blackfriars, in the Lady Bellegate street car park which is a council owned car park, you can park here for free with a blue badge.

There is also an NCP car park which backs directly onto this car park, there are accessible parking bays in this car park however, there is no free parking with a blue badge, so you will need to pay for a ticket.

Accessibility

There is a small curb to gain access to the main entrance, they have a temporary ramp for this which would remain in place if there was an event on. This takes you through a stone archway and down a wide pathway. There are some benches to the right of the pathway on some grass. At the bottom of the pathway is another archway which leads through to a courtyard, here you can access the North, East and South range.

• The North Range

Turning left through the archway takes you down to the North range, this is an original priory church building and is used for events such as weddings and parties as well as theatre productions and music events. There is a small slope leading down to two sets of wide doors, these would be open during an event. There are two floors to the North range, the second floor is up 5 steps, both floors are all open plan and there is a platform lift available to the left of the stairs. All areas are accessible for wheelchair users.

• The East Range

Heading out of the North range and turning left takes you to the East range where there are three floors. The first floor has a small room which can be used for meetings or signing of the registers for a wedding. There is a wooden ramp that has been built throughout the first floor which makes the accessibility very good. There is also another door in here via which can be accessed via the ramp, this leads to a garden and then through to the top floor of the north range. There is a piece of ramp leading down to a empty part of the building, there is not much to see down here and floor is very uneven so I would avoid going down here.

The second floor can be accessed via a platform lift, when exiting to the lift your first right takes you to a café/bar area with some small tables to sit at, these were suitable for a wheelchair, although a large wheelchair may find it difficult to find underneath. There is a fold out section of the bar which is slightly lower and an appropriate height for a wheelchair to order and pay for drinks. Next door along is access to the toilets, the disabled toilet is at the end of the corridor.

The third floor is also accessible via the lift, there is a smaller room here which can also be used for events, there is a flat entrance and is all accessible.

The two platform lifts in the North and East range are both easy to use, the buttons are at a low height. However, they do have manual doors so a wheelchair user or somebody with a visual impairment may need assistance to do this.

Toilets

The accessible toilet is located on the second floor to the East range and requires access via the lift. It is very spacious, large enough to turn around in, as it is located at the end of a corridor it is easier to turn around in here rather than reversing down the corridor which is not wide enough to turn around in. The toilet is on the back wall to the left as you enter, and the emergency cord is in corner next to the toilet. There is an adjustable handrail and wall mounted hand rail to each side for left and right-side transfer. The sink, hand dryer and soap dispenser were all at a lowered height. The toilets were very clean.

Accessibility Rating

(five out of five stars)

Visit website for bookings: http://www.gloucesterblackfriars.co.uk/