Brilliant accessible changing rooms including a Changing Places facility
5
5
Date of visit: September 2025
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
This is a really large sports centre with a 50-metre competition standard swimming pool with a lot of auditorium-style seating, a 25-metre leisure pool, a diving pit, a large 10-court sports hall, a large gym and two exercise studios. They also have event space, meeting rooms, a bar, and a café. I was particularly focused on their changing facilities, which are really impressive with a number of accessible changing rooms, in addition to their standard changing areas.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
The main entrance to the building had some heavy double doors, but it also had a set of automatic folding doors. The main reception area was really large and it had a large desk which was at a seated height with multiple members of staff located here. The flooring throughout the centre was smooth and easy to navigate on wheels. They had multiple lifts which could take you to the various floors of the building. The main thing I looked at while I was here was the accessible changing areas. I saw a total of four different accessible changing rooms. One was set out like a Changing Places toilet, and while the others didn’t have a bench or hoist they still had lots of space and provided a good accessible option for showering and changing. They all needed a RADAR key to access them, but staff could provide this if needed. The Changing Places room had a height-adjustable bench with a ceiling hoist that could navigate most of the room. There was a shower based at one end of the height-adjustable bench, and the shower head could be removed from the wall and moved around as needed. They also had a shower chair that could be used instead of the bench. It had height-adjustable arms and a supportive back. There were many different grab rails throughout the room as well. There was a standard toilet and sink in this room, as opposed to a Closomat or height-adjustable sink you may find in a Changing Places toilet. The other three accessible changing rooms also had standard toilets and sinks with grab rails around them. They all had a roll-in shower with shower seats that were fixed to the walls and grab rails around them. However, one of them seemed to have had the shower removed, possibly because it was being repaired or updated. They also all had at least one additional seat in the room which could be used for changing or even to place items on while using the showers. All of the accessible changing rooms were really spacious and would have had room for a large wheelchair as well as additional help from carers or other support.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Excellent
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
The Fitzalan Square/Ponds Forge tram stop is just 160 metres from the sports centre. From this stop, you can access all of the tram lines. The yellow services travel between Middlewood and Meadowhall. The blue services travel between Malin Bridge and Halfway. The black services travel between Cathedral and Parkgate. The purple services travel between Cathedral and Herdings Park. They have their own car park with lifts between the centre and the car park. 130 metres away is the bus stop Commercial Street (Stop CG2) where the bus services 7a, 24, 25, 30, 30a, 56, and X30 are available. Around 450 metres is the bus stop Commercial Street where the bus services 50 gold, 50a, 50s, 71, 71A, 71S, X5, X6, X7, and X11 are available. The railway station is around 600 metres away where you can get train services provided by East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, TransPennine Express, and Northern Trains. They provide services to locations such as London St Pancras, Norwich, Liverpool Lime Street, Edinburgh Waverley, York, Newcastle, Plymouth, Reading, Cleethorpes, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, Nottingham, Scarborough, Lincoln, Huddersfield, Doncaster and other stations along the way. The bus and coach station, Sheffield Interchange, is also around 600 metres away. National Express and Flixbus coaches are available from here. There are also a large number of local Sheffield bus routes available, including: 2, 7, 8, 9a, 18, 29, 41, 43, 44, 50, 50a, 50b, 53, 56, 57, 65, 73, 80a, 86, 95, 95a, 120, 135, 208, 216, 218, 252, 256, 257, 258, 271, 272, X3, X5, X7, X17, X54, X71 and X74.
Accessible facilities: Dedicated on-site parking
Accessible Toilets
Excellent
The accessible toilets were the accessible changing rooms. They were all great as I mentioned above.
Facilities: Changing Places toilet, Changing Places toilet with shower, Accessible toilet
Staff
Excellent
The staff were really friendly and helpful. When I asked about their accessible changing facilities they showed me every single option they had and also showed me some other areas like their pool.
