A complete nightmare for anyone with accessibility needs!
1
1
Date of visit: December 2025
I am a disabled person and a carer or friend of a disabled person and a general supporter of disabled access. I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment, accessing toilets, dexterity or coordination and moving around.
Overall Rating
Bad
A complete nightmare for anyone with accessibility needs! From constant obstructions to dodgy lifts, I would not visit here again.
Disabled Access In and Around
Bad
The initial entrance for The Range is through a very large automatic door, then you have a second door that is also automatic, however there are obstructions from this point onwards. Baskets, Christmas displays on end fixtures and in the middle of the walk ways made it extremely difficult to navigate my wheelchair anywhere in the store. At the rear of the store there are several structural pillars to hold the second floor up and unfortunately these pillars are completely obstructing several aisles (both ends of the aisle) making them 100% inaccessible to anyone who uses more than a walking cane. At certain points at the rear of the store, these pillars are also positioned in the main walk path, making it incredibly difficult to maneouver a wheelchair past them and I repeatedly got stuck on them or made to take a longer route to get to the next aisle as there was no chance of me passing them. This was incredibly frustrating as approximately 60% of the store was unaccessable for me in a wheelchair due to the pillars, constant christmas displays and temporary end fixtures (I nearly broke one when trying to gain access to an aisle). There are two lifts in the store, however one of them is out of order and surrounded by artificial trees (which makes it difficult to spot the other lift). There is a short but very steep ramp to get into the lift, the door is incredibly heavy and very difficult to open if you are also trying to get up the ramp to the lift in the first place. Ideally, you would reverse into the lift, however this is completely impossible to do as the ramp is too steep and you would not be able to keep the door open to do so. After shopping upstairs, I used the lift to return to the ground level and if I did not have my partner with me, I would have been stuck trying to return to the ground floor as without assistance the door to the lift would not close behind me unless physically pushed from the outside. Accessible it is not - I could not do it on my own.
Accessible facilities: Step-free entrance, Step-free access to most areas, Lift to all areas
Parking & Transport
Excellent
I travelled to this place by personal vehicle
There is a very large car park for the retail park that The Range is located in. There are ample disabled parking spots and plenty of general spaces. Nearby are links to public bus services. I did not notice any EV charging bays, but they are located somewhere in the car park as there are signs posted.
Accessible facilities: Dedicated on-site parking, Public or on street parking, Drop-off or pick up point
Accessible Toilets
I am unaware of any toilets in the store.
Staff
Excellent
Most of the staff that I did interact with were very polite and helpful, however at one point I was yet again ignored whilst the staff member spoke to my partner instead of me whilst paying for my goods.
