Churchill Theatre

Ok, so yes the theatre was built on the side of a hill back in the 70s, this was indeed a time when access requirements were sadly neglected. I have a spinal compliant making walking and stairs very troublesome, On arrival to the theatre i spoke to one of the staff to enquire how to get to my seat in the stalls, i was told i needed to desend 4 flights of stairs, i explained this just wasnt possible due to my undelying health complaint. The staff member said something on their radio and before i knew it i was greated with a young lad with a big smile and a bight orange High viz vest on( this is a nominated staff member on hand each show apparently to help with any mobility assistance ) who escorted me up around 10 steps and then into a lift, taking me straight down to the stalls seating area. The young man then showed me to my seat, pointed out where i would find the bar and ladies toilets and said if i needed anything the whole team would be onhand to support my request. I was also show an app i could use from the comfort of my seat to order interval refreshments to be delivered to my seat or from a designated collection point. I navigated the website, placed my order and 5 minutes into the interval my drinks and snacks were delivered to my seat as requested. At the end of the show the lift was once again avaliable to take my back up to the foyer so i could leave the theatre onto the High Street. I have to applaud the theatres creativity when it comes to making an inaccessible building accessible.

The theatre kindly sent out a “ preparing for your visit” email which contained an opportunity to book refreshments which would be delivered to our seats - fab I thought - so I ordered interval drinks - having paid the confirmation email said that drinks could be collected from “ the Circle Foyer” - I ( wrongly) assumed that as we had circle seats, this would be the immediate area beside the Circle seats entrance -WRONG- the pre-ordered drinks were in the BASEMENT area - requiring walking down three flights of stairs and back up again, being disabled - this nearly killed me! Had I known that there was a bar in the circle foyer I would not have bothered. The stairs down to your seats are also steep and deep so choose seats carefully if you have limited mobility. We parked in the Glades as we could not find blue badge parking any closer - quite a trek back afterwards - really not a theatre for the disabled in my opinion.