Not recommended for wheelchair users - no room to move about or browse
2
2
Date of visit: January 2016
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
Poor
Although this branch of Waterstones has a step-free entrance and a lift to the basement, I do not recommend it for wheelchair users because the display tables are huge and too close together, totally blocking access to the bookshelves, so that there are large areas of the bookshop totally inaccessible for wheelchair users. Disgraceful.
Disabled Access In and Around
Bad
Very poor access for wheelchair users. It's easy enough to get into the shop, but the display tables are huge and too close together, totally blocking access to the bookshelves, so that there are large areas of the bookshop totally inaccessible for wheelchair users. This is disgraceful. There is a platform-lift to the basement, the sort where you have to hold down the button throughout the journey. This lift worked well, except that it makes awful shrieking noises as metal scratches against metal, which means it has been sloppily installed and calibrated. It sometimes gets stuck on the upward journey.
Parking & Transport
Good
Clapham Junction Station is spitting distance away. On a good day you can get prompt ramp assistance there when boarding or leaving any train, though the assistance service can be patchy and a bit random. The London Overground also serves this station, and their ramp assistance is almost always completely reliable and friendly. Many bus routes serve this immediate area too, so for wheelchair users it's a good place to go shopping.
Accessible Toilets
0I didn't find a toilet in this shop.
Staff
Poor
Whilst the staff are friendly, they have lost three stars for their totally inconsiderate shop layout design which renders much of the shop a completely no-go area for wheelchair users.
Additional Information
In view of the difficulties imposed on wheelchair users in this shop, I wonder whether Waterstones are exposing them to possible legal difficulties in connection with the Equality Act 2010.
