Tip-top top floor film space
5
5
Date of visit: October 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment and moving around.
I use or have experience of: hidden impairment, powerchair, walking aid, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Excellent
I went to GMAC Film in the arts space at 103 Trongate for a screening of short films as part of the Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF), which does a great job at prioritising accessibility and communicating access information. I was a little late because being disabled is hard and I have trouble with timekeeping at the best of times, but I was so warmly welcomed and immediately shown in that it helped me feel less stressed and embarrassed. The films were so lovely and moving and varied – I cried several times and kept thinking about them throughout the rest of the day. Compared to other events venues, GMAC Film has only a small central area with limited seating which is all fairly low sofa seating as far as I could tell, so If you want to hang around to chat but need a chair to sit in, that would work better in the Studio or maybe a chair could be brought out of one of the other rooms.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
Trongate 103 has automatic double doors that open to the outside. If you are coming from the right, you will need to cross a driveway with lowered curbs that are not entirely even, but not more than an inch. When you enter into the foyer, the lowered end of the reception desk is right in front of you with a slightly higher counter to the left of it, both positioned along the right-hand wall. The lower part also has a chair with a backrest as well as space to approach in a wheelchair. There is some open space to your left with changing exhibitions on the wall. There is also a cushioned window seat around to the left from the entrance doors. As you continue through the foyer, the stairs to the first floor will be on the right after the reception. For stairs to higher levels and the lift, continue straight ahead but keep left. There will be a sign sticking out from the wall at the top of a set of double doors on your right indicating the lifts. There is a green door release button to the right of the doors. The doors are not automatic and open into the lift lobby. The handles on the other side are vertical metal bars. There are two lifts to the right as you enter the lift lobby. There is one call button between them that has a raised symbol but no Braille. Facing them, the lift to the right is a smaller lift with handrails on all sides and a mirror on the back. The buttons have raised numbers and symbols but no Braille. I could not see a sign for a hearing loop. The lift of the left is a very large lift with no handrails or mirror. The buttons are on the left and look the same as in the other lift. The lifts have announcements of which floor you are on in both Gaelic and English. The door to the stairs is on the back left of the lift lobby as seen from the doors. The door has a vertical metal bar handle and opens to the outside left. GMAC Film is on the fifth floor. There is a buzzer to the left of the doors out of the lift lobby, but the wider of the two doors was propped open when I visited for a SQIFF screening. There is another set of manual double doors on the left end of the corridor once you have exited the lift lobby. They have vertical metal bar handles and open to the outside. There is a slight incline up the threshold, which is marked out with hazard tape. After going through a short corridor with a coatrack and a display of leaflets on your left and the door to one of the toilets on the right, the space opens up a bit and there is a corner with sofas on the right as well as a corridor to more rooms and toilets. The Studio, which is where the screening took place, is down a short corridor to the back left. The doors into it are manual double doors that open to the outside with vertical bar handles. The projector screen is on the back wall. The larger area of the room to the left of the door has cinema-style seating with armrests in 8 rows of 6 seats. The front row is made up of sofas. There are moveable seats in the right part of the room, facing the screen diagonally. They have cushioned seats and backrests. There were beanbags at the front of that block of seating. There are a couple of thin pillars in the middle of the room, but there was plenty of space for me to sit in my wheelchair at the end of a row of the cinema seats without my view being obstructed. There is a hearing loop available, but a sign says to sit close to the screen if you need to use it. The Meeting Room is down the corridor on the right, past the sofa corner. It is a door on the left with a large window next to it looking into the room. The door is a non-automatic single door with a lever handle that opens to the inside left. When I visited, the room was set up as a quiet space with fidget toys, masks, drinks and beanbag chairs available.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by personal vehicle
There are two disabled parking spots at the back of the building on Parnie Street, where there is a little more on-street parking as well. The NCP King Street Surface car park is about 250 metres away from the main entrance. The closest multi-storey car park is The Glasshouse on Glassford Street. It is a 0.2-mile/5-minute walk or wheel from Argyle Street Station, 0.4 miles/8 minutes from High Street Station, a 0.4-mile/10-minute walk or wheel from Queen Street and 0.5 miles/12 minutes from Central Station. The closest Subway station is St Enoch, one of two wheelchair-accessible Glasgow subway stations (along with Govan), half a mile or 11 minutes away by walk or wheel. The closest bus stop is Candleriggs (2, 18, 18A, 60, 60A, 61, 64, 240 Lanarkshire connect, 255, 263, CB4, N2, N18. N240).
Accessible facilities: Public or on street parking
Accessible Toilets
Good
There are gender-neutral toilets on the right just after you enter into the GMAC space. The door opens to the inside right. More toilets with urinals are down the corridor to the right on the right-hand side. The door opens to the inside left. There is an accessible bathroom both on the ground floor of the building on the left opposite the stairs and one in GMAC, turning down the corridor on the right and then on the right wall. The accessible bathroom in GMAC is medium-sized and large enough for me to turn around in easily. The door opens to the outside left. No key is needed to access the bathroom. There is no door opener. The handle on both sides is a lever. There is a handrail on the back of the door and it locks with a twist lever. The sink and bin are on the wall to your right when you come in. Coat hooks and sanitary products are on the wall to your left. The toilet and another bin are on the back wall. There is a fixed vertical and a horizontal handrail to the right of the toilet that can be lifted and moved out of the way and a fixed horizontal handrail on the wall to the left of the toilet. The flush is a lever on the front of the cistern. There is no toilet paper holder; a roll was balanced on the handrail. There is space for a left-side transfer and the narrow sanitary bin is along the wall, so minimally obstructive. The red cord is to the left of the toilet. There are vertical handrails on either side of the sink. The sink is a small wall-mounted sink and the tap has a short lever. There is a mirror above the sink. There is a soap dispenser on the sink and also a wall-mounted soap dispenser to the right of the sink. The paper towel dispenser is on the wall to the right of the sink with a bin underneath. There are two coat hooks at different heights towards the back of the left wall. A basket with sanitary products sits on the radiator to the right of the coat hooks. The accessible bathroom on the ground floor is large with a narrower bit at the door that then opens up. Unfortunately the toilet seat was quite dirty when I visited. The door opens to the outside left. No key is needed to access the bathroom. There is no door opener. The handle on both sides is a lever. There is a handrail on the back of the door and it locks with a twist lever. There is a sign on the door telling you to sanitise your hands before and after the bathroom and there is a wall-mounted sanitiser dispenser to the right of the door on the outside, but it was empty when I visited. There is a baby change, large mirror and bins on the wall to your left when you come in. The sink is on the wall to your right. The toilet is on the back wall. There is a fixed vertical and a horizontal handrail to the right of the toilet that can be lifted and moved out of the way and a fixed horizontal handrail on the wall to the left of the toilet. The flush is a lever on the front of the cistern. The toilet paper holder is to the left of the toilet. There is space for a left-side transfer. The red cord is to the left of the toilet. There are vertical handrails on either side of the sink. The sink is a small wall-mounted sink and the tap has a short lever. There is a mirror above the sink. There is also a wall-mounted soap dispenser to the right of the sink. There are two wall-mounted paper towel dispensers in the corner to the right of the sink with a bin underneath the one on the left. There is a wall-mounted baby change on the wall by the door that folds down with a large footpedal bin and a narrow sanitary bin to the right of it.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
All the staff I interacted with were working with SQIFF and they were all lovely, enthusiastic and helpful.
Comments
remus
24 Nov 2025
HI Pat thank you very much for your very interesting and detailed review of the Scottish Queer International Film Festival. It sounds like you had a really successful visit and were able to enjoy some of the films that were on display at the Trongate. Thank you very much for sharing your experience, and I look forward to reading more about your reviews.
