Changing Places toilet at the Crucible Theatre
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
The Changing Places toilet at the Crucible Theatre was a decent sized toilet with most of the equipment you would expect. It was located on the lowest level of the theatre, in the Crucible Kitchen which is the café and bar area. The toilet is open to the public as well as those using the theatre or café. A RADAR key is not needed to get into the toilet. It is a standard door handle with a lock on the inside that twists. It had a ceiling hoist, height-adjustable bench, toilet with grab rails, and a small sink. It was not the biggest Changing Places toilet and it did not have the fanciest equipment but it had all the important things and was a well located option for those looking for a Changing Places toilet in the centre of Sheffield.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
This toilet was on the lowest floor of the theatre and there were two entrances to the building from the street. The main entrance for the theatre was a level above the toilet, there were three sets of automatic sliding doors which brought me into the main foyer which had a tiled floor with some matting for wet weather. On this level, there was a lift to the right which travels to all the other floors. The lift had a handrail and a small drop-down seat in it. The other entrance was lower down and brought me in at the same level as the toilet. This entrance had signage for “Crucible Kitchen” which was the name of the café where the toilet was located. The flooring on this level was a combination of wood laminate and carpeting.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Good
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
The theatre is 550 metres away from the train station where you can access many train services. The train services currently available from Sheffield train station are East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Northern Trains. These 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. 400 metres away is Sheffield Interchange, the bus and coach station. From here you can get coaches run by National Express and FlixBus and a large number of buses. The bus routes available from here are: 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. There are a few tram stops within walking distance of the theatre. The Cathedral tram stop is 350-400 metres away, depending on the route you take. Castle Square tram stop is 400 metres away. Fitzalan Square/Ponds Forge tram stop is 500 metres away. Additionally, there is a tram stop attached to the train station. The tram stop is located on the far side of the train station from the theatre so it is roughly 750 - 800 metres away. Sheffield Theatres have a partnership with Q-Park so those attending evening or matinée performances can get a discount on their parking costs. The car park that this is available for is the Q-Park Charles Street which is 400 metres from the Crucible Theatre. The car park has 530 spaces including 20 accessible bays and 13 EV charging bays. There is a height restriction of 2.10 metres for this car park and they only take card payments at the machines.
Accessible Toilets
Good
The toilet door opened inwards and had a standard door handle on each side to open and close it. The lock mechanism twisted to lock the door. It was on the smaller side of some of the Changing Places toilets I have seen but still enough room for multiple people to be in here. Inside there was a ceiling hoist and a height-adjustable bench. The bench was similar to those you may find in a doctor’s surgery or a hospital. The mechanism to raise and lower the bed was a lever that you operate with your foot rather than with an electric control. The toilet had space for a left-side transfer but not a right-side transfer. There was a grab rail that could be raised and lowered on the left side of the toilet (as you looked at it) and a fixed, vertical grab rail on the wall to the left of that. On the right of the toilet was a fixed, horizontal grab rail underneath the toilet roll dispenser. The toilet had a cushioned back support. The flush was on the toilet cistern but on the opposite side to the transfer space so you had to reach across to get to it. In between the sink and the door was a small sink. It had a single tap that was manually operated (no automatic sensors) and the twist mechanism controlled both the temperature and flow of the water. On either side of the sink was a fixed, vertical grab rail and above the sink was a small mirror. However, this was mounted too high for me to be able to use from my wheelchair. To the left of the sink, a manual soap dispenser was mounted on the wall. An automatic hand dryer was mounted to the wall to the left of the toilet. The emergency red cord had been tucked behind a grab rail and a pipe despite having a Euan’s Guide Red Cord Card on there so I made sure it was hanging freely to the floor before I left. There was also a baby-changing table in here. It was a free standing table rather than a fold-out one that was mounted on the wall so it took up more space. I did not see any privacy screens in here or any instructions or weight limits for the equipment.
Facilities: Changing Places toilet
Staff
Excellent
The staff I interacted with were all really lovely and helpful.
