A great venue let down by an inaccessible accessible toilet
4
4
Date of visit: November 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: hearing and moving around.
Overall Rating
Good
What's Good: The food and drink is amazing, pricey but worth it for the quality. We had afternoon tea for two on this occasion, which was a lavish spread of deliciousness. It is a bright and lively environment even in the middle of the afternoon. Access to our table was easy (we had let them know we had a wheelchair in advance). There is an easy ramp from street level and normally opening doors either side of a revolving door. We were given a table on the level close to the front door with adequate space all around and in the same corner of the building as the loos. What's Challenging: It's a beautiful building, originally the Edwardian outpatients department of the old Addenbrooke's Hospital. Open plan with high ceilings and ornate pillars leading up to a vast glass skylight. Unfortunately, tables are set up steps at different levels limiting those that are accessible more to the middle of the room. Lighting was good, but sound levels of people chatting were very high thanks to the open plan and high ceiling. It was quite busy in the middle of the afternoon and as a partially deaf person I struggled to hear across the table and at peak times it would have been a real problem.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
Very open plan, but there are mezzanine areas that have a few steps to reach them. Plenty of tables on the entrance level but make sure you book in advance.
Accessible facilities: Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Single-level venue
Parking & Transport
I travelled to this place by personal vehicle
On-street parking is available outside, but parking is always difficult in Cambridge so no guarantee of a nearby space. If you are parked in the street watch out for the quaint oldy-worldy open gutter that runs between the street and the pavement. You can't get a wheelchair across it and have to roll down the street quite a way to find a place when you can cross it.
Accessible Toilets
Poor
The overall good experience was somewhat let down by the accessible toilet. We were sitting in the same corner of the building as the toilets so there was no problem getting to them, almost. A relatively clear run came to a halt due to the extremely heavy door into the toilet corridor. I'm a relatively strong bloke but I struggled to open it whilst manoeuvring my wheelchair and needed help in both directions. The accessible toilet simply didn't live up to its name. It has a sliding door as there is no room for a regular door and it is side-on to a narrow corridor, requiring a 90-degree turn through the door then an immediate second 90-degree turn into the long thin room. Unfortunately, this already awkward manoeuvre was made even more difficult due to the placement of a very large nappy/sanitary bin in the turning space. The toilet itself is placed across the narrow width of the room at the far end, with very little space in front of it and transfer only on one side, which itself is partially blocked by a sink. I can weight bear and was just able to use the facilities on my own, but independent wheelchair users, especially those with full paraplegia, could really struggle with the layout and lack of space.
Staff
Excellent
Delightful and helpful.
