Houses of Parliament

mendlessohn

30 Mar 2015

Great Disabled Access Day tour of Parliament

4.5

4.5

Date of visit: January 2015

I am a carer or friend of a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: moving around

Overall Rating

Excellent

A really fascinating and detailed (nearly 2 hours) tour of the Houses of Parliament, with really brilliant staff to help us around. We took in Westminster Hall, the lobbies and galleries, a committee room, division lobbies and both Houses. Cafe serves decent cakes, sandwiches and tea and coffee as well, and the brief detours from the main tour to allow you to use the lift gets you into parts of the building that the others don't normally get to see!

Disabled Access In and Around

Excellent

Overall, very good for an old building, and there was nothing that we couldn't see. At the beginning and end of the tour we were separated from the group as they went up the steps in Westminster Hall so that we could use the lifts to the lobby, but as a result we did get to see a bit more of the building, including the medals collection and one of the libraries. Part of the disabled access route is outside, so be prepared for that. There is a bit of a bump after a steepish ramp to get into the cafe, but once inside it's spacious.

Parking & Transport

Good

Don't know about disabled parking (apparently you can reserve Blue Badge spots in Great College Street), but we walked down Whitehall from Charing Cross Station, and was pleasantly surprised by how relatively wheelchair friendly Whitehall is - lots of smooth dropped curbs and wide pavements. There are some nastier curbs getting round the south side of Trafalgar Square and over the top of Westminster Bridge was crowded, but overall pretty good. Westminster Underground is step free and right along from the visitors entrance.

Accessible Toilets

Good

Standard disabled toilets through the cafe at the beginning and end. Not sure about what would have happened if you needed them half way through the tour.

Staff

Excellent

Staff couldn't have been more helpful and accommodating, always making sure we could see and hear and telling us more stories as we took the detour to the lifts!