Excellent exhibitions
4
4
Date of visit: July 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
Good
I really enjoyed my visit to Leeds Art Gallery, although navigating the building without using stairs can take some getting used to. In addition to the interior of the building being beautiful to look at in itself, I also appreciated the exhibitions of contemporary art and themed exhibitions drawing across epochs. I did not always agree with the curators’ choices, but I was moved and inspired to reflect, which is what I enjoy about engaging with art!
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
The art gallery has a large staircase leading up to the entrance. It is made up of two sections of 8-9 steps and has handrails in the middle and on the left side. There is also a ramp to the right of the staircase, which is quite long and steep. The doors at the main entrance are automatic double doors that open to the inside. You then go through an entranceway and enter the atrium with an open archway to the Tiled Hall Café to your left, the reception counter and museum shop ahead and along the left wall and entrances to the exhibitions through doors and archways along the right wall and one at the back wall. All the spaces on the ground floor have step-free access, including the Artspace and Archive Gallery. I did not have to open any doors, as there were either open archways or doors that were propped open. I found the lighting to be pleasant and sufficient, apart from two spaces that were showing video installations, which were quite dark and thus initially disorienting. If you cannot climb steps and inclines are an issue for you, I recommend entering via the library. The accessible entrance to Leeds Central Library is to the left of the entrance to Leeds Art Gallery, on the side of Victoria Square towards Calverley Street. There is a set of large blue double doors with a door opener and a sign above saying "Library Entrance". Going straight down the corridor there will take you to a small lift on the right side. There is a short section of the corridor that slopes down and there are handholds on either side for that bit. Taking the lift up one floor will take you to a set of non-automatic doors on your left as you exit the lift that open towards you and lead into the café. The Art Gallery is on the other side of the café through a large archway. Taking the same lift up to the first floor is also the only step-free way to access the first floor of the gallery. When exiting the lift on the first floor, go through the doors on your left and left again all the way through the art library. There is a single door at the end of the room opening to the outside right that was propped open when I visited. There is also a staircase in the middle of the gallery going up from the atrium to the first floor landing. It has a few dozen stone or concrete steps with stone railings on either side and modern railings in the middle. The upstairs is spacious and bright thanks to the beautiful skylights, but there are also gallery spaces that have dimmed light to protect fragile artworks. In addition to the landing and some space to the side of it, there is another large space with a vaulted skylight around the back of the staircase and gallery spaces to either side of it. Those side galleries have non-automatic double doors that open to the outside and are usually propped open. There is also a short ramped incline leading up to the doors that has textured lino flooring. I noticed in one of the upstairs exhibitions especially that the barriers that were to keep you away from the artwork were very low and not very substantial, so they seemed to me to be a trip hazard, especially for visually impaired folks. That exhibition also had large sculptures that instead of actual barriers only had some black lines on the floor around them that were not raised or otherwise tactile. There is on average one bench without back or armrests per gallery space. They are usually made from wood and not cushioned. Occasionally there is a folding chair and I have also seen folding stools that you can take around with you, although it was not obvious where to get them from. I also saw a manual wheelchair tucked away on the ground floor that looked like it was available to loan. The flooring is smooth and hard throughout, mostly wood but also occasionally concrete and tile. The art space and the archive gallery have linoleum flooring. The corridor to the Henry Moore lecture theatre and the multimedia space have low carpet. The artworks in the exhibitions are labelled in standard small writing on signs on the wall, but there is one folder with large print labels per exhibition, usually kept on the bench. Some exhibitions also have visitor books there to write in and share your thoughts. There are a couple of gallery walls that do not have labels on the walls but rather on laminated sheets. There is not always a large print version for them.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
The closest bus stop is Victoria Square on The Headrow (14, 15, 19, 19A, 42, 49. 50, 50A, 55, 55C, 65, 72, 75, 508, X6, X10, X11). It is a 7-minute/0.3 mile walk or wheel from Leeds train station. There is some on-street parking a block down on Oxford Street and paid multi-storey car parks at The Light and Albion Street.
Accessible Toilets
Average
The art gallery’s accessible bathroom is a bit hidden and it took me two attempts to find it. The toilets are in the "Artspace", which is through the middle gallery on the ground floor and to the left. The accessible toilet is around another corner on the right within the Artspace. The door opens to the outside left. A RADAR key is needed to access the bathroom. There is no door opener. The handle on the outside is a vertical metal bar at mid-height. The bathroom is medium-sized, but actually ends up quite cramped because of multiple bins and there was not enough space for me to turn around in my powerchair. The toilet and two bins are on the wall to your left when you come in. The sink and hand dryer are on the wall ahead. Another bin is to your right. There is a fixed vertical and a horizontal handrail to the right left 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 spatula lever on the side of the cistern. The toilet paper holder is fairly high up on the wall to the right of the toilet. There would be space for a left-side transfer if there were not two bins in that space, one with a foot pedal and one with a swing lid. The red cord is to the right of the toilet. There is a vertical handrail to the left of the sink. The sink is a small wall-mounted sink and the tap has a short lever. There is a mirror quite high above the sink. There is also a wall-mounted soap dispenser above the left side of the sink. There is only a hand dryer, no paper towels. There are also bathrooms in the library, both by the accessible entrance and in the art library. The bathrooms off the same corridor as the accessible entrance were open, but there was a sign suggesting that usually a RADAR key is necessary to access the toilets. There is a single toilet room and sinks in the corridor as well as an accessible toilet, which is locked for a RADAR key. I found the smell to be a bit unpleasant and there were quite a few flies, but it was not visibly dirty. The bathrooms in the art library are not wheelchair accessible.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
Average
I only interacted with staff to ask about where to find the toilets and they told me but did not go out of their way to show me. Other than that, I did not have much reason to talk to anyone, as you do not have to buy a ticket and I was happy and able enough to explore the gallery unaided.
