Beautiful park, smelly loos!
4
4
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
Good
This was a local park that felt modern and new. Although it was fairly small it really felt bigger than it was as it had so much in it. There were peaceful spots to sit and enjoy the space, a children’s playground, a coffee truck and two accessible toilets - although they were a bit smelly! The landscaping in the park was really gorgeous and there was also an incredible piece of art on a building just behind the park. This was a really beautiful spot that seemed tucked away behind some building work that was going on when I was there.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
This park is at the same level as the street and has no gates or entrances to access it. The floor is very new stone tiling which is all very smooth and easy to navigate across on wheels. There are a number of benches to sit on throughout the park and they have used some stone architecture at different heights as part of the landscaping which can also be used as seating. There is also a small children’s playground. There is a coffee truck in one spot but it was closed when I was there. It seems like the counter would be extremely high, even for someone standing.
Accessible facilities: Single-level venue, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
The closest parking options were in the Wellington Street NCP car park. However, this car park had very limited accessible options. There were a few accessible parking spaces on the lowest level and a steep ramp for pedestrians to leave and re-enter the car park. But there was a sign saying their lifts weren’t accessible or suitable for those needing step-free access. So, apart from the lowest level, the rest of the car park apparently didn’t have step-free access. It seemed that to access the lifts you would need to use stairs to get there. So parking close to this location isn’t the easiest. Around 350 metres away from the park is the West Street tram stop. From this stop you can access trams on the Blue and Yellow services. The yellow services travel between Middlewood and Meadowhall. The blue services travel between Malin Bridge and Halfway. On one side of the park is Rockingham Street which has three bus stops on it which are all on the same side of the road as Pound’s Park. They are all called Rockingham Street but they have different designations; RS1, RS2 and RS3. At RS1 you can get the buses 30, 30a, 52, 52a, 95, 95s, and X30. From RS2 you can get the buses 6, 120, 120k, and SC1. From RS3 you can get the buses 51, 95, 181, 257a, and 257b.
Accessible Toilets
There were two accessible toilets in this park which are open to everyone. They were next to each other and they also had baby-changing facilities in them. As these are open to the public they weren’t very nice inside. They were slightly messy and smelt pretty bad. These didn’t need a RADAR key, they had a regular door handle to open them on both sides. The doors both opened outwards and they were really heavy. They also had a small lip at the doorway which was a struggle alongside the heavy door. Once inside, the doors also seemed to stick so I had to pull incredibly hard to be able to lock the door. On the inside of the door was a fixed, horizontal grab rail to assist with closing the door from the inside but I had to use the door handle to close it fully from the inside. The lock was a small twist lock, which had a lever that could likely be turned by an elbow or fist. The toilet had a grab rail that could be raised and lowered on the right-hand side (as you looked at it) with another fixed, vertical grab rail mounted to the wall beside it. There was space alongside the toilet for a right-side transfer, but a wet floor sign and a toilet brush had been left in this space when I was there. There was a firm, plastic back rest available behind the toilet seat to lean on. The flush was mounted to the wall behind the toilet and on the same side as the transfer space, so no need to reach over the toilet to get to it. On the opposite side of the toilet from the transfer space was a fixed, horizontal grab rail and the toilet roll dispenser. In front of the toilet was a small sink with an automatic tap. To the right of the sink was a fixed, vertical grab rail, then a manual soap dispenser. Above the sink was a mirror, which was slightly too high for me to use in a seated position, and then another fixed, vertical grab rail on the left of the mirror. On the wall opposite the sink was a baby-changing table. To the right of that was an automatic hand dryer. The emergency red cord wasn’t tied to anything, but it had been pushed behind the toilet roll dispenser. If someone had been stuck on the floor they would have needed to manoeuvre themselves in between the wall and toilet in order to reach the end of the cord to pull it. I adjusted the cord so it was hanging straight down again and attached a Euan’s Guide Safer Toilets card.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
I didn’t see any staff while I was at this location.
