

4
Better than some venues but not ideal
This was our first visit to this venue. The booking process, direct with the venue, was simple and stress free.
The main floor is level, with no rake whatsoever, and for a seated performance the removalable seats are bolted together and fixed to the floor. The wheelchair spaces, up to twelve for most performances, are at the end of the rows. For our performance we were at the end of row K, on the right side. When I viewed ticket availability a week before our visit, all accessible tickets were sold out, but I didn't see any other wheelchairs. The normal view of the stage was very good for my wife. I did expect though that when folk ahead of us stood up her view would be seriously impaired. It was but, as the stage was higher than some, it wasn't as bad as some other venues; at least she coul still See Ricky and Lorraine's heads, just. See photos for her view.
The location of wheelchair spaces in this and similar venues is a great bugbear of ours. Perhaps the venue operators are more concerned about access and easy egress in an emergency that the view afforded to the wheelchair user, but I think they could still locate wheelchair users in the front row without compromising safety; York Barbican is an ideal example of that.
If you are attending a performance when everyone will remain seated you will have a great view of the the stage. However, if you are attending a concert where it is anticipated that folk will stand up, Deacon Blue in our case, you will assured of an extremely poor view for most of the performance.
Further details of access to the venue, parking opportunities, toilets, and staff are as below.
This was our first visit to this venue. The booking process, direct with the venue, was simple and stress free.
The main floor is level, with no rake whatsoever, and for a seated performance the removalable seats are bolted together and fixed to the floor. The wheelchair spaces, up to twelve for most performances, are at the end of the rows. For our performance we were at the end of row K, on the right side. When I viewed ticket availability a week before our visit, all accessible tickets were sold out, but I didn't see any other wheelchairs. The normal view of the stage was very good for my wife. I did expect though that when folk ahead of us stood up her view would be seriously impaired. It was but, as the stage was higher than some, it wasn't as bad as some other venues; at least she coul still See Ricky and Lorraine's heads, just. See photos for her view.
The location of wheelchair spaces in this and similar venues is a great bugbear of ours. Perhaps the venue operators are more concerned about access and easy egress in an emergency that the view afforded to the wheelchair user, but I think they could still locate wheelchair users in the front row without compromising safety; York Barbican is an ideal example of that.
If you are attending a performance when everyone will remain seated you will have a great view of the the stage. However, if you are attending a concert where it is anticipated that folk will stand up, Deacon Blue in our case, you will assured of an extremely poor view for most of the performance.
Further details of access to the venue, parking opportunities, toilets, and staff are as below.