Restaurant claimed to be wheelchair accessible

[MobilityCat]

Last night I went out for a meal with friends. I first called the restaurant and asked if it was wheelchair friendly and they said it was.
When I arrived I found that there was a step at the entrance so I waited until someone came to the door.
They asked me if I had a reservation and I said yes.
They took me along the pavement and around the corner, then down a dark lane then asked me to wait while they cleared four large metal bins away from a path lead to the restaurant back entrance.
I then entered the door into the kitchen and navigated through it into the restaurant.
Considering that it was a single step at the front of of the restaurant the could have provided a little portable ramp. After my meal I had to go out the same way and It didn't feel at all wheelchair friendly.

Unacceptable why the extra journey for wheelchair and mobility needs people. Imagine if they asked able bodied people to do this walk around! They would have few customers. Report it to the council and leave a review.

I wasn't offended by what you said, I was actually being sympathetic. Life can be shit for a woman in a wheelchair.

One wonders what would happen if there was a fire in the kitchen (where it is most likely to start) and the restaurant had to be evacuated.

Its not accessible, but its also important to realise most people dont understand accessibility.

Why is it important to realise that most people don't understand accessibility? It it more important that people understand the need to inform and educate themselves on accessibility, especially if they are a business or offer a service. That's the view of the law too. "I didn't understand" is not a defence.

I didn't realise that the council would be involved but yes it might give them a bit to consider.

There is definitely an H&S issue re kitchen hygiene and evacuation procedures, and that's before we get to dignity as a customer. I'd report to the council.

I have reported this to the appropriate council under Trading Standards

I'd be interested to see what they say. It's one thing to not be accessible due to being an old building etc re listed building regs and what they can do, although in this case a ramp seems entirely possible, but no one should claim to be accessible and then leave you in that situation. It's undignified for you and needs calling out.

Obviously not accessible, but also not uncommon. I booked a room, phoned beforehand and was told there was a lift. Arrived only to find the lift was broken and had been for at least a week.

My record is arriving at a hotel with three lifts - all of which were out of order, and they suggested I use the filthy service lift. When I turned down their kind offer they transferred me to their sister hotel which had two lifts. One of which was out of order. The other one was accessed by going down several steps!

And the "Accessibility" page on their website was all about the website accessibility, not the venue accessibility.

I bet they had a really impressive DEI statement too.

Update on my complaint to the council, they sent me this reply "We will make contact with restaurant manager /owner and raise the concerns you highlighted in your email" I still haven't received any response from the restaurant.

You probably aren't the sort of customer they care about.

This kind of stupidity isn't an excuse. Of course accessible means level access or ramped.

Try being in the wheelchair for a bit and come back to us.

Serendipity, I don't understand why. I'm just a customer who books a table and expects to be able to attend without being offered an unacceptable means of entry

It isn't acceptable. They could have had a portable ramp but should have told you that ahead of time.

DD goes to a university where the disabled refuge points for emergencies are down flights of stairs 🙄and where they helpfully have ramps up to the swimming pool changing rooms and then steps from the changing rooms down to the pool. She is four years in and still has to tell time tabling to stop assigning rooms for her lectures that are only accessible if she finds a porter who will escort her through two locked doors and another lecture theater (sometimes with a lecture going on involving human body parts), or lecture rooms where the doors are too narrow to admit a wheelchair.

You've got a lot to learn and I guarantee that once you're a wheelchair user you'll look back at this post and be embarrassed at your naivity.

This post has got nothing do with the OP expecting proper access to a listed building and everything to do with misinformation. A portable ramp is not beyond the realms of capability.

The old/listed building excuse really doesn't hold water - I live in Cambridge, where most College buildings are grade 1 listed. Planning permission to improve accessibility has never been refused. Not once. And most have been made more accessible in the last 20 years. It's a cover for can't be bothered/don't want to

@AgnesX that's an interesting point. I guess you've also gone from rolator user to a wheelchair too? What differences do you think I'll encounter?

It's always good to ask for advice on the impact of changes you cannot forsee, but others can and have. For warned and all that. Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter is already facing a life disabled by the environment. Some of my posts are about the difficulties faced by wheelchair users. Wheelchairs were invented hundreds of years ago, and people still don't make provision for those who use them.
In the UK there's approximately 1.2 million wheelchair users, who daily face difficulties with transport, public spaces, and housing due to inadequate accessibility.

Shame on them thinking they can deliver you round the back like a shipment of cooking oil.
This is NOT accessible. They need to fork out for a ramp.

That doesn’t sound very friendly to me. It’s not somewhere I would be rushing to visit a second time.

I was booked into a travel lodge at Knutsford, we were travelling south from Stirling. We had stopped there on the northbound trip.

The wheelchair accessible room, had no shower working, andcwas only over the bath. I was not able to use it.

On the southbound trip, we got to the service station to find it was the same room, across the motorway, up stairs and then down stairs. There was a lift provided, that didn't work. DH went across to find out how they were going to deal with the problem to find them just shrugging thaier shoulders and saying it had been out of order for 2 days and they were waiting on an engineer.
We ended up driving on the 5 hours home at which point I was exhausted and sore from sitting in the car.

It took me 2 months to get our money back from Travelodge.

I once called ahead to double check a restaurant was accessible and had a similar entrance situation OP. I was absolutely mortified and holding back tears to discover midway through the meal, when I needed the toilet, that they were all upstairs! Literally had to go home after my main to wee and obviously didn't go back for dessert and coffee.