Hitting the virtual floor

For many disabled people, planning ahead is as integral a part of a night out as the donning of glad rags or booking an accessible cab.

Does the club have level access? Is there an accessible loo? All questions for many that can make or break an evening.

Now, the internet has gone a long way towards making this process much simpler, as many public buildings and venues now include accessibility and transport information on their websites as a matter of course, allowing people to plan their visits in advance, (hopefully) preventing any nasty surprises when arriving at their destination.

So, in light of Disability Now’s investigation into accessibility at nightclubs (see page 30-32), how do the big venues’ online presences measure up?

The answer, sadly, is not very well.

Ministry of Sound, arguably Britain’s best-known nightclub brand, has its flagship venue in south-east London.

Its website (http://club.ministryofsound.com/club) has no information available on access at all. There is a contact form through which the venue can be emailed, but no telephone number.

A bit of a dig around via their corporate hire section does eventually turn up a number, but it’s not very easy to find. Maybe that’s the point.

The story is all too similar at the website of Merseyside’s most famous nightspot, Cream in Liverpool (www.cream.co.uk)

Again, there is no information about the actual venue at all, let alone any reference to its facilities for disabled people.

Godskitchen (www.godskitchen.com), the dance music brand behind the annual Global Gathering music festival and club nights up and down the country, does fare slightly better than the rest in terms of providing information about the venue and how to get there, but stops short of detailing any information specifically for disabled people or those with access problems.

However, a visit to the website of its resident venue, Air in Birmingham (www.airbirmingham.com), reveals that the venue has “full disabled access, including lift”.

The only club which makes its accessibility and contact details fully available is London club Cargo (www.cargo-london.com/info.php).

Steph Cutler from disability equality consultancy Open Eyed says clubs should do more to make access information readily available.

“We encourage all organisations we work with to include a disability statement on their website. We believe that doing so is a win\win situation as disabled people benefit from information that allows them to make informed decisions and have realistic expectations and it shows those clubs who do take access seriously in a good light.”