Birkenhead Park

mrsmollyc

02 Mar 2026

Friendliest squirrels!

5

5

Date of visit: November 2025

I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.

I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair

Overall Rating

Excellent

I had such a wonderful time in this park! It’s a large park with some beautiful sights, including a Roman bathhouse and an ornate bridge. My highlight was when some squirrels came up and said hello to me! I imagine they were assessing whether I had any food to give them but they were really inquisitive and one even came and touched my wheelchair and even looked like she was ready to jump onto my lap! The whole park was really beautiful and peaceful. I found all the paths really easy to navigate in my wheelchair as they were all quite wide and smooth. There was the odd tree root that caused a bit of a bump in the pathway but for the most part it was very smooth. One thing I did notice is that I didn’t see many benches or seating options. I travelled a fair distance between the seating options I did see and I would have struggled if I had visited during my walking stick/ambulatory wheelchair days. There was also a café and accessible toilets at the Visitor Centre including a Changing Places toilet.

Disabled Access In and Around

Good

The paths around the park were all quite wide and smooth. There was the odd tree root that created some bumps but this is to be expected in a large park like this. The paths were easy for me to navigate in my wheelchair. There were some very minor inclines in some sections but they were very easy for me to manage. There were occasionally benches along the pathways but these varied and sometimes I went quite a distance between them. Even in my ambulatory wheelchair days I would have still needed to use my wheelchair around this park as the distances between benches were often quite far. The Visitor Centre was easy to find as it was located on a main pathway through the park and was in a part of the park that had fewer trees so it was easy to spot it from further away. The path leading to the entrance was very evenly laid stone tiles and the entrance had automatic doors. There was a café on the left of the main entrance and this had indoor and outdoor seating. There were toilets located in a corridor behind the café and this included an accessible toilet and a Changing Places toilet.

Accessible facilities: Single-level venue, Step-free entrance, Step-free access to most areas

Parking & Transport

Good

I travelled to this place by walk or wheel

There isn’t any dedicated parking for the park. It seems there used to be some bays within the park but these don’t seem to be used anymore and the roads through the park are permanently shut off. The website recommends that for those wishing to travel by car to use the surrounding residential roads to park in. Birkenhead Park station is just 130 metres away from one entrance to the park but the park is quite large so depending on which part of the park you are hoping to see, it may be a lot further away from the station. There are a large number of bus stops on the roads surrounding the park with many bus services available from them.

Accessible Toilets

Good

There was an accessible toilet and a Changing Places toilet in the Visitor Centre in the park. The Changing Places toilet had a specific lock that required a member of staff to open. However, the reception area was unmanned and I wasn’t able to find anyone to open the door for me. The accessible toilet was open for anyone to use and also had baby-changing facilities in it. There was a large grab rail on the outside to open the door and the door opened outwards. The door was quite light and didn’t have any resistance when opening it. On the inside of the door was a horizontal grab rail to help with closing the door from the inside and a fairly small twist lock. Due to the lock’s size, some people may find it difficult to operate it if they were using a fist or elbow. The toilet was quite large and there was a lot of room for a left-side transfer. There was a sanitary bin at the back of the transfer space, but I don’t believe it was a major obstruction. There was a height-adjustable grab rail next to the toilet and a fixed, horizontal grab rail on the other side, below the toilet paper dispenser. There was a cushioned backrest behind the toilet seat and the toilet also had a lid. The flush was a standard flush lever, which might be tricky to operate with a fist or elbow, and it was mounted on the cistern. It was placed on the same side as the transfer area so you did not have to reach across the toilet to use it. In front of the toilet was a small sink with a single tap in the centre. The tap was manually operated and had a long handle which seemed like it could be operated with a fist or elbow. The tap twisted to control both the temperature and flow of the water. Above the sink was a manual soap dispenser and opposite was an automatic hand dryer. Opposite the sink was also a baby-changing table mounted to the wall. The emergency red cord hung to the floor and was located by the toilet.

Facilities: Changing Places toilet, Accessible toilet

Comments

remus

17 Mar 2026

Thanks for an awesome review. Molly you have made me want to really visit this park! Especially for the squirrels I'm glad you had a good time and that there is a changing places toilet in the park. Keep up the great work!