London in a wheelchair

[mrsfeatherbottom]

Hello. I need to utilise the hive mind! We have tickets for a concert in Hyde Park in July and are going to make a little holiday of it and have a few days in London either side. I used to live in London but 25 years ago and was able bodied then!

I will be using a wheelchair as I can't walk any distance really so won't be able to use the Tube.

Things we'd like to do when there (but need recommendations for other ideas):
Tate Modern
Chinatown for food
DD wants to go to Seoul Beauty which is in Soho.
DDs are 14 and 16.

So, my questions are:

Where should we stay? We'd be happy with a Travellodge or Premier Inn as the flights and concert tickets have already set us back a fair bit.

What's the best way to get around? Bus or Ubers? I can transfer out of the chair and DH could lift it in and out of cars or buses, if needs be.

Since I've needed the wheelchair, we've only holidayed with a car so I'm a little anxious about how it's going to work out.

Hit me with your suggestions. TIA

Many tube stations now have lifts. Look on the TFL website and you will be able to see which ones.

Get the Citymapper app to look at transport options. It will show you all step-free routes if you select that option.

Black cabs are much better than Uber for wheelchairs.

Thanks. In the past, I've struggled to get in and out of a black cab (I normally go into a car bum first and then swing my legs in which I couldn't do in a black cab because the seats are high up and set back).

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/step-free-tube-guide-map.pdf This is useful. Tate Modern is accessible from London Bridge or Southwark both step free BUT you need to check which lines you’d be using as not all lines/changes are step free.

For Soho and Chinatown I’d say bus or taxi - black cab is more expensive than uber but you can often wheel a chair straight in (they have ramps). All the tube stops in that area are close together so if you can find a tube stop in the general area that is step free, it won’t be far to go.

Other ideas: The revamped Covt Garden is a nice place to wander and a lot is pedestrianised. A river boat might be fun (many have ramps) - could use to get from south bank to N of the river.

Do you have Citymapper app? It’s brilliant and has a “step free” filter - although I haven’t tested how reliable that is.

Cross posted sorry!

Where are you flying into, are you sightseeing before or after the concert? Is it BST, do you know which part of the park you're tickets are for.

Tfl have a journey planner and you can set it to only give you step free options https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

For example Tate Modern is at London Bridge which has step free access from the tube to the pavement so you could take the tube there. If a weekday then you could go to Borough Market to pick up a street food lunch - my teen daughters loved going there. Then its a flat walk to the Tate. Alternatively you can get the river bus to the Tate pier as that is also accessible. (There's a video of someone in a wheelchair taking a riverboat on the tfl website if you wanted to see how it worked).

Chinatown/ Soho will be harder to get to in a chair so you'd be best cabbing it - black cabs have ramps so that you can get into them in the chair and then fixing points to secure the chair inside - much better than faffing around with an Uber.

Thanks so much everyone. I'll download Citymapper app for sure.

Not interested in a river boat - we did one last time we were over a few years ago and DD14 (ASD) hated it.

Yes, it's BST - we've got tickets for the viewing platform so I need to work out what direction we'll be coming from/which entrance we'll be using.

Good to know about the black cabs having ramps - that might work out better.

Haven't worked out where to fly into yet - was waiting to pick an area to stay in first. Ideal would be London City as it's so handy and small. And then we can get the DLR.

My memory of Covent Garden is that it has loads of cobble stones, which aren't fun in a wheelchair! Am I right?

I've bussed all around London with DS in a wheelchair. They are the really easy budget option. just use Google maps on the wheelchair option, i wouldn't bother with city mapper. We've also walked alot. The tube is getting easier but tbf the buses are so easy I wouldn't bother.

DS complains about the cobbled bits but there's wider smother pavements along the sides of the roads and in covent garden itself

If you fly in to Heathrow you could look for a hotel near the Elizabeth Line that side of London as all the EL stations are accessible. Bond Street would be easy enough for Hyde Park.

I downloaded the TFL go app and it was brilliant. We found the tube with a wheelchair really easy to use and the app tells you which routes are accessible.

hi I take my Wheelchair to London we usually stay near kings cross in the Premier Inn
Leicester Square and whatnot is walkable/pushable . for everything else we did we ubered although I do walk and used the tube to get to a place but where I was going wasn't a far walk.but I think.downloading the city mapper it will tell you accessible tubes.

Ubers are unreliable these days

All black cabs have ramps so you can go in with the wheelchair. They can be hard to find in some areas.

Bits of the tube are good and bits are not. Very much depends on the station. The staff are genuinely very helpful though and although it seems to shock randoms when I get in the tube with a wheelchair they do seem to cope.

I've never risked a bus so can't comment. I have tried to use them outside London and the drivers have been helpful but it is tiring.

Covent Garden is a fucking nightmare in a wheelchair. You can avoid the cobbles but the dropped kerbs to get on pavements etc are all over the place.

yeah the cobbles are avoidable.

We're back from our trip to London and I wanted to update this thread and thank everyone who contributed. Thanks especially for suggesting the Elizabeth line - I ended up booking a hotel less than 10 minutes from Liverpool Street so direct from Heathrow and step free the whole way. The Elizabeth line was great although sometimes there were three lifts to take from train to street so it wasn't speedy!

One day, we took the tube to Tottenham Court Road (step free from platform) and explored Soho and Covent Garden and Chinatown. It wasn't too bad although it was so busy.

The day we did the Tate Modern and our last day, we just got black cabs and it worked very well. The ramps that pull out from under the door are great. Only one cab didn't have that and the driver had to get a ramp from his boot so it took a little longer. Borough Market on a Saturday, I wouldn't recommend in a wheelchair but DH just parked me in a quiet corner and everyone went and got the food and brought it back to me!

BST at Hyde Park was amazing. 10/10 for accessibility and everyone was so kind and helpful.

The only real issue we had was at Heathrow where the disability services were shockingly bad. They forgot to put a luggage label on my chair so when we got to the aircraft, they couldn't put it in the hold. Luckily, as it folds and is light, they just put it in the cockpit for us!

All in all, it was a great success - thanks so much for all the tips!