Living The High Life at Eden Court...
5
5
Date of visit: April 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, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Excellent
Eden Court is a large arts venue with two theatres, two cinema screens, galleries and multipurpose studios. (Fun, if nerdy, fact... the Empire theatre and La Scala/Playhouse cinemas are named for other, now long-gone, venues in the city which is a nice touch). My partner and I visited to see The High Life Musical in the Empire Theatre so this review is specific to that venue. The show itself was fabulous and definitely recommended if it tours again. We booked a wheelchair space and companion seat (complementary with the Highland Council "Agus Aon" (Plus One) card) by telephone as you cannot do this online. There are wheelchair spaces in the stalls and upper Circles, however the other seats there are of the tip-up variety. We were in Box 14 which is on the same level as the rear stalls, had a great view and is accessed from level 1. The seats in our box were movable (and had been set up by staff prior to our arrival to accommodate the wheelchair) as they are in other boxes, but only a few of these have step-free access. The concourse and Café Bar are open and spacious, as are most areas, with plenty of room to manoeuvre through and around. There is a large lift to all of the main levels and I had no problems in my manual wheelchair. If I had one problem it was that I found myself rather invisible to a disappointing proportion of the clientele, pushing and shoving and queue jumping but I guess that's a societal issue and should in absolutely no way reflect on the wonderful staff who were all friendly and extremely helpful. Overall, though, we had a great time and the whole complex is very accessible.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
The front entrance is step-free access with automatic doors. The concourse and Café Bar are on the level on the ground floor. The box office and one of the serving areas at the bar have lowered counters. Most tables in the bar are wheelchair friendly with movable seats although a few are high with barstools. The route to our seats in the Empire Theatre was step-free via a lift.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance
Parking & Transport
Excellent
I travelled to this place by personal vehicle
There are several accessible parking spaces near the front entrance and another couple in the car park to the rear of the complex.
Accessible facilities: Dedicated on-site parking, Public or on street parking
Accessible Toilets
Good
I only used the accessible toilet on the ground floor which was the standard layout and fine to manoeuvre my wheelchair around in... although be careful when exiting as the heavy door swings right out in front of the Female toilet and I almost flattened one poor lady! The red cord was hanging correctly to the floor right next to the toilet bowl. Although it's not in situ at time of writing, Eden Court has secured funding to install a Changing Places toilet.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
Excellent
Without exception, all staff that I encountered, including the lady in the box office who dealt with my phone enquiry and subsequent booking, were friendly and extremely helpful.
