Huge shop with good parking and lots of amenities
4
4
Date of visit: February 2026
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 Tesco Extra which had lots of different amenities, including a petrol station, a large car park with accessible parking spaces and EV charging, a Changing Places toilet, a Costa Coffee, an opticians, a pharmacy, a mobile phone shop, and a home and clothing section. There was also a Timpson's outside the main entrance but this had some steps into it. The Costa Coffee was located upstairs and could be accessed via a large lift or stairs. There were also more toilet facilities including a small accessible toilet. The Changing Places toilet was located near the lift and while it was a well-equipped toilet, the lock didn’t work. It was a RADAR key operated door, however, the lock on the inside wouldn’t stay in the locked position. You would need to have someone holding the lock in position or risk someone thinking it was empty and coming in. The shop was really large with a wide selection of items and also had lots of parking. Overall, I found the car park was really good with lots of spaces and parking options. I found the shop was easy to navigate and even found some of the aisles to be bigger than some of the standard supermarket aisles. I thought the amount of amenities here was incredible. I found the toilets to be a bit lacking as the Changing Places toilet door didn’t lock and the smaller accessible toilet felt quite unclean.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
The car park was very large and it was fairly level throughout. There were some paths and areas around the outside edge of the car park that started to become downhill from the main shop, but for the most part, most of it was level with the shop. The accessible parking spaces were close to the main entrance, but there were lots of zebra crossings throughout the car park to make navigating it safe. The main entrance came into an area that had a customer service desk available on the right-hand side. As you progressed further into the shop, there were some entry gates that you had to pass through. I found it was easy enough to pass through these in my wheelchair. The floors throughout the shop were all very smooth, flat and level. The shelves did go up quite high, as is standard in a supermarket of this size. I found the signage was pretty good and I found it easy to find what I was looking for. The aisles varied in size, for example, I found the fruit and vegetable aisles were really well-spaced and offered lots of room between the displays. Whereas some of the others were narrower. The Costa Coffee was located above the main shop and there was a large lift that travelled between the two floors. The Costa had tables and chairs that could be moved around, the counter was slightly high but the staff were very helpful and there was a hearing loop symbol located at the counter. Some of the tables also had plug sockets beneath them.
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 personal vehicle
There was a really large car park with lots of spaces. There were also accessible parking spaces, parent and child parking spaces and EV charging bays. Some of the EV charging bays were also laid out similarly to accessible parking spaces and provided lots of space around the bay. I have reviewed the charging bays separately with more detail. The bays are PodPoint bays. There are two bus stops located on Colney Hatch Lane which is alongside the shop. There is one stop on each side of the road, each providing services in a different direction. The buses available from these stops are the 43, 134, 234, and 634.
Accessible facilities: Electric Vehicle Charging, Drop-off or pick up point, Dedicated on-site parking
Accessible Toilets
Average
There was a small accessible toilet located within the Costa Coffee area of the shop which could be accessed via a lift or stairs. You had to pass through two theft detectors before entering the toilet area, as is common at supermarkets. The accessible toilet door opened outwards and didn’t require a RADAR key. There was a vertical grab rail on the outside to pull the door open and it was a very light door. On the inside there was a horizontal grab rail to pull the door shut as it didn’t close by itself. The lock had a large handle that turned clockwise to lock the door. This would have been easily operated with a fist or elbow. The toilet was located in the right-hand corner of the room; it had a plastic backrest but no lid. There was space for a left-side transfer; however, two large bins almost completely obstructed this area. There was a height-adjustable grab rail that could be raised and lowered and there was a fixed, horizontal grab rail beneath the toilet paper dispenser. The flush was an automatic sensor where you had to wave your hand, elbow or fist across to activate, and it was mounted on the wall behind the toilet. It was placed on the same side as the transfer area so you did not have to reach across the toilet to use it. In front of the toilet was a small sink with a single tap placed on the left-hand side. The tap was automatic with movement sensors detecting when to turn the tap on. Above the sink was a manual soap dispenser. There was a vertical grab rail on either side of the sink. To the right of the sink was a small shelf which had a small reed diffuser placed on it. To the right of that, was an automatic hand dryer. There was a red emergency cord hanging by the toilet. Unfortunately, this had been cut and no longer hung all the way to the floor. Although this toilet seemed to have been refurbished fairly recently and seemed in good repair, it smelt quite bad and felt quite unclean. The Changing Places toilet was located on the ground floor, close to the lift. The door opened outwards and required a RADAR key to get inside. Unfortunately, once inside, the lock on the inside was faulty and didn’t stay in the locked position, and it had to be held in the locked position. Because I was on my own, I was nervous that someone would think the toilet was empty and come in, so I used the other toilet. The room was well-equipped, with a height-adjustable changing bench, a ceiling hoist, a height-adjustable sink and a standard toilet. The toilet had transfer space on both sides, as well as height-adjustable grab rails on both sides too. There were small colostomy shelves on either side of the toilet as well, although these had been filled up with lots of other items like toilet roll and air freshener. The toilet had no backrest or lid. The flush was a handle with a rounded end and it was mounted on the wall behind the toilet. There was a toilet paper dispenser mounted to the wall but it was quite a distance away from the toilet itself and it would have been impossible to reach it from the toilet. To navigate this, some toilet paper had been placed onto one of the grab rails and there was lots of stuff that had been placed on the two colostomy shelves which were much closer to the toilet. To the right of the toilet, the ceiling hoist was in its charging position. On the wall next to the hoist, there were signs with information about how to use it. The remote was hanging down and was easy to reach. To the left of the toilet was the height-adjustable bench. It was a padded bench with safety rails on either side. It seemed to be a manual foot mechanism to raise and lower the bed, rather than controlled with a remote. There was a sign on the wall with information on how to use the bench. On the wall opposite the bench was the height-adjustable sink. The remote to control the height had been placed on its holder on the right-hand side of the sink. There was also a sign on the left which explained how to use it. The sink had a large surface with a smaller basin in the centre of it. A single tap was in the centre and had a long handle which twisted to control both the temperature and flow of water. There was a manual soap dispenser mounted above the sink but there was also a plastic bottle of hand wash placed next to the tap. I think this might be because the soap dispenser is just a little bit too high for those that might be seated. To the left of the sink was an automatic hand dryer. Next to the sink, on the right, there was a privacy screen which had been left folded up. Just behind the screen there was also a long mirror mounted to the wall. There were also some coat hooks at different heights next to the door. There were two red emergency cords in the Changing Places toilet, one by the toilet and one by the door. These both hung freely to the floor.
Facilities: Accessible toilet, Changing Places toilet
Staff
Excellent
I only interacted with the staff at Costa who were very friendly and helpful. I didn’t specifically interact with Tesco staff, but there seemed to always be someone nearby if I had needed someone.
Additional Information
The petrol station here is a large petrol station with approximately 15 pumps available. They offer unleaded and diesel fuels and the price is usually one of the lowest in the area. They also offer pay-at-pump.
