The Forum

I'm a wheelchair user and I went to see a live band/movie screening. Booked a companion ticket for free. Arrived at the front of the building, and was told that there was a side entrance to the right. got my ticket from the reception there, and rode a wheelchair lift up to the seats. Seats were just the end of rows where you could park your chair. Unfortunately, these rows don't account for wheelchair depth, and as it was, there were two of us in wheelchairs on the end on the same side of the isle. Because of this, both of us couldn't realistically fit, and so I folded mine up and transferred into the seat. The problem then was that whenever someone wanted to leave the isle, we had to stand long enough for then to shuffle over. I don't recommend transferring here. There was also not enough ventilation and or air conditioning, so it was difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature. The accessible reception was air conditioned so that was a nice break in the intermission. When the intermission happened, I left to go get snacks. Unfortunately the merch table had set up right next to the lift, and the lift itself is very small. The buttons aren't marked, so after entering the lift I had to leave, find a member of staff and re enter. This could be easily solved if the floor numbers were annotated with labels. The entrance of the lift on the upper floor is also right by the bar, and there were boxes blocking the way, but was able to shuffle through. The carpet on the bar floor was heavily pilled, meaning that it was very hard to push through. When leaving, the door with the wheelchair lift exit was closed and unmarked, which made it hard to spot, as all the doors look the same. All in all, whilst technically accessible, there's a lot that can be improved, and a lot that due to the nature of the building, unfortunately cannot. I would suggest to the venue to: - lable and clearly mark the lift - keep the entrance and exit of the lift clear and free from obstruction on all floors. - try to not book wheelchair tickets on the same rows if possible, and try to alternate. - improve AC - the carpet is more than likely to be historic, so consider a thin walkway from lift to bar made of a solid material to go on top of carpet on bar floor - mark the accessible exit door with a sign so it is recognisable when shut. Not sure if it was provided and I missed it, but an Accessible guide with a floor plan would be great