Excellent apart from the disgraceful "accessible" toilet which is NOT accessible
2
2
Date of visit: June 2026
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet
Overall Rating
Poor
The entire gallery is step-free and easy to navigate in a wheelchair BUT the "accessible" toilet is an absolute disgrace, is NOT accessible, and it ruined my visit - hence the overall "Poor" rating for this venue.
Disabled Access In and Around
Poor
Automatic doors at the entrance and level access throughout the gallery.
Accessible facilities: Single-level venue, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by bus
The gallery is fairly remote from public transport except for the P4 bus, which will drop you off outside.
Accessible Toilets
Bad
I was very annoyed to find that the supposedly "accessible" toilet is very far from accessible - in fact I would go so far as to say that it is very nearly unusable. The most important problem is that the door opens into the toilet cubicle. This contravenes the standard design for an accessible toilet cubicle. The door must open outwards, to allow full access to the space within the cubicle. In the current design the open and closing of the door blocks full access to the cubicle. For a wheelchair user inside the cubicle, opening and closing the door steals so much space that it is almost impossible to do so - indeed, I got trapped in the cubicle for quite a while after I had finished, because there wasn't sufficient room for me, for the door's swing path, and for the absurdly ENORMOUS bin taking up an unreasonable amount of space in the cubicle. Being trapped like this is frustrating, undignified, demeaning and totally unacceptable. The spaciousness of an accessible toilet cubicle is emphatically NOT a place to swing a door into or to place huge bins into. The spaciousness exists to allow ACCESS for a wheelchair user: access to enter with ease, access to turn around, access to park next to the toilet bowl for a sideways transfer, and access to exit with ease. The following changes are needed to make the "accessible" toilet genuinely accessible: 1. Rehang the door so that it opens outwards. 2. Fit a horizontal bar to the full width of the inside of the door so that it can be closed with ease from inside. 3. Remove the enormous bin and replace it with something much slimmer. 4. DO NOT store the bin, or anything else, in the wheelchair transfer area next to the toilet bowl. This is the area where the wheelchair user parks for a sideways transfer onto the toilet seat and it must be kept absolutely clear of obstacles at all times.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
Good
I've put a "good" rating here but it does NOT apply to the managers who have allowed the almost-unusable so-called "accessible" toilet to exist in its present disgraceful state for many years, despite repeated complaints from multiple wheelchair users.
