Overview

This branch of Maplin is on two levels, ground floor and basement. There is a staircase to the basement, but no lift. So half the shop is inaccessible to wheelchairs. For this reason my overall rating is half of five stars. If you want stuff from the basement, staff are reasonably happy to fetch it for you, but this is not ideal, and nothing as good as browsing for what you want, or might want, or might discover unexpectedly.

Transport & Parking

Plenty of buses in the Strand, but a pitiful shortage of step-free tube stations. Waterloo is just on the other side of Waterloo Bridge, Green Park is over a mile away.

Access

Step-free entrance into the shop. So far so good. But the basement, which is half the shop, is reached via a staircase and there is no lift. I wanted to browse for electrical switches, simple things, on/off, two pins (sometimes four). I wasn't able to, and had to get someone to go and fetch me a selection from downstairs.

Toilets

Maplin branches don't have toilets, not surprisingly, so a zero rating here is a neutral rating not a bad rating.

Staff

I normally find Maplin staff really friendly and helpful. At this Strand Branch, they get only four stars. I was told to find what I wanted in their heavy paper catalogue-book, and then to ask someone to fetch whatever I wanted to look at. The man who I then asked was reluctant to bring me all the items I wanted to see: he was oddly unhelpful while remaining friendly. He also made me laugh by saying he couldn't really help me as he didn't know about electronics. "But it's an electronics shop!" I exclaimed, "and they're only simple switches."

Anything else you wish to tell us?

There are better branches of Maplin for wheelchair users. Some have lifts and are fully accessible. I don't recommend this one. (Incidentally it used to be a menswear shop where, in the summer of 1981, my partner and I bought some (at the time) fashionable t-shirts).