Excellent for wheelchair users but some toilet problems
3
3
Date of visit: June 2021
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet
Overall Rating
Average
A spacious pub with easy step-free access and friendly staff. Some accessible toilet problems. Awkward to get to by public transport if you need step-free access.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
The entrance and the entire bar area are fully step-free, and access to the large beer garden is also step-free. The entire garden area is flat, and easy to navigate in a wheelchair. The bar area is spacious and easy to navigate around and through.
Parking & Transport
Poor
Tooting Broadway is the nearest tube station but it doesn't have any step-free access. The nearest station with any sort of step-free access is Balham, 1.3 miles away, and this station is step-free only for National Rail, not for Tube. Lots of buses serve the area around the pub and can drop you off nearby.
Accessible Toilets
Poor
There is an accessible toilet, with RADAR lock. Staff behind the bar have the key, but had mislaid it when I was there. Luckily the door was open anyway. I was VERY dismayed to find that the rubbish bin had been placed in the wheelchair transfer area, blocking access to this essential space which should be kept clear at all times. Worse still, the red emergency cord had been tucked BEHIND the rubbish bin, so it's totally out of reach. This is very thoughtless, dangerous and silly. This cord must be easily accessible, hanging freely all the way to the floor, so that it can be reached by anyone who falls over, for example in the often perilous transfer from wheelchair to toilet and back. If I had fallen over and injured myself, I would not have been able to summon assistance.
Staff
Average
Five stars for the bar staff who served us an interacted with us. One star for the managers who have allowed the dangerous and incompetent accessible toilet arrangements.
Additional Information
The food is EXCELLENT! If the toilet issues could be sorted out, this would be a much more enthusiastic and positive review.
