Overview

The City Wall at Vine Street is a new small museum which opened in May 2023. It houses part of the Roman Wall and some a small collection of artefacts. The Romans arrived in the City of London about 43CE and in about 200CE built a city wall. It was the second largest building project England, the largest being Hadrian's Wall. Over the centuries the wall was repaired and rebuilt. Today only fragments of the wall survive. The City Wall at Vine Street displays a part of the wall which until recently was not on public view. Admission is free but you need to pre-book on their website. The wall is impressive and the museum collection is fascinating. However, my review is going to focus on its accessibility. Despite it being a new purpose built museum there are several access issues, this made the visit disappointing and uninviting. Most notably the lack of step free access due to the lifts not working since the museum opened. By contrast the one member of staff who was on in the museum was very friendly and welcoming.

Transport & Parking

The nearest tube station is Aldgate, which is not step free. However, there are several buses that stop close by. I took the bus and it was a 5 minute, level walk to the museum.

Access

For a brand new purpose built museum it has given little consideration to disabled access. 1) CITY WALL AT VINE STREET WEBSITE: a) There is no disabled access information. This needs urgently addressing. b) The "Find Us" details are misleading. It gives it address as 12 Jewry Street, but when you get there there is a sign saying that this entrance is only for group bookings. Information on the website should clearly indicate where the entrances are and who can use which entrance. c) There is no public transport information provided, i.e., nearest tube station, nearest step free tube station, buses routes that run close by, etc. More details need to be provided on the website. d) There is no map or directions on how to find the museum. This needs to be included. d) The website does not make it easy for a visitor to find out how to get there or what to expect when they arrive. 2) ENTRANCES City Wall in Vine Street is part of a multi-occupancy building. There are 2 entrances to the museum. One on Jewry Street and the other on Vine Street, which is through SENZO COFFEE. Jewry Street Entrance a) First impressions: Poor. There were five barriers near the Jewry Street entrance door and two cones. I am not sure why they are there, but it gives the impression that it is a building site or work on the building is not complete. Blind or people with visual impairments may bump into them. The work needs to be completed and barriers removed. b) Signage: On the website Jewry Street is given as the museum's address. Signage is poor. From a distance it looks like any other modern office building. It's only when you get close up to it that you can see the name etched on the window. The sign outside the door reads "Please be aware that this entrance is only (which is in red letters) for group bookings. Smaller or single bookings will have to enter from the cafe entrance on the other side of the building on Vine Street" and there is an arrow pointing to the left. However, on your left are closed metal double doors with a barrier and two red cones in front. It is not possible for visitors to go left. This is a public museum which should be welcoming visitors. The signage is in correct as visitors can not walk this way, and therefore needs updating with the correct directions. It gives an unfriendly, disinterested and unwelcoming first appearance. SENZO COFFEE entrance in Vine Street a) Signage: There is nothing to indicate that this is the entrance to the museum for "smaller or single bookings" as mentioned on the poster in Vine Street. The cafe itself is very inviting and made the visit worthwhile, and I will write a separate review for it. 3) ENTRANCE DOORS a) Jewry Street: Use the intercom and the door with open automatically. b) SENZO COFFEE entrance: Automatic doors. 4) STEP FREE ACCESS The museum had been open just over a month and there has been no step free access since it opened. a) Jewry Street: The entrance door leads to a narrow platform area overlook the museum on -2 level. There is a lift on this level but there is a a roller banner in front of it. It states "lift not in use, please ask a member of staff for assistance". There is a larger roller banner in front of the lift at museum level. On both is the City Wall at Vine Street logo so they have been specially ordered. I asked the member of staff and he explained that the building was also shared with student accommodation and it was their lift and the museum did not have access to it. This means that if a school party arrives and there is one child with a mobility impairment, they are going to be singled out from the rest of the group, as they will have to leave and enter the museum from the other door, which is at the opposite end of the museum. There is a lift so why has not an arrangement been worked out? This sends out a clear message, disabled people don't matter we have a lift but you can't use it. Such little thought has been given in the planning, design and disabled people's access needs. There is a single flight of stairs with handrails on both sides, which curves in the middle. It was slow going. b) SENZO COFFEE: The entrance door leads into a small cafe area with counter. The tables and chairs are round the edges of the walls so there is a large open space. There is a lift but it is not working. It has not been working since the museum opened last month. The lift when it does work is meant to take visitors to the cafe and ticketing area, Level -1 and the museum, Level -2. The lift buttons are illuminated so it gives the appearance of working but it doesn't. Priority needs to be given to getting the lift fixed and operational to enable step free access. There is a short flight of stairs with hand rails on both sides down to the cafe area and then a further flight of stairs to the museum level. Both sets of stairs are straight. c) Museum: The actual museum is all on the small floor on Level -2. 5) MUSEUM LAYOUT a) Cabinets: Down one side of the museum are long, tall cabinets displaying artifacts. At the lower level there are information boards. However, the exhibits are displayed vertically. There are many small pieces which are displayed at standing height or above. These objects with be inaccessible to wheelchair user. Better thought could have been given to the layout. It looks very nice but it is not accessible to all. b) Information Boards: There are several information boards and these are white lettering on a grey background. The contrast could have been better. c) Video: There is one video with audio and this had subtitles. d) Guides in alternative formats: There was no large print or audio description guides. There were no magnifying glasses e) Seating: There was one bench with arms and no back support. Portable stools were not provided. 6) SENZO COFFEE: Cafe with free standing tables and chairs throughout. There is outdoor seating in a quiet, pedestrianised street. Inside there is a counter and more seating. Then there is a lift (when it works) or a flight of stairs down to an additional seating area.

Toilets

There are 2 assessable toilets. Museum Level accessible toilet (Level -2): To access this toilet you need to find a member of staff as it is located behind a manual door marked "Staff only" and requires a key fob to open the door. Once through there is a further manual door to the accessible toilet. The accessible toilet is very spacious and clean. There is only one horizontal grab rail by the toilet and 2 vertical grab rails by the sink. There was an emergency cord that reached to the floor. Cafe Level accessible toilet (Level -1): The toilet is located in the cafe area. There is a manual door into the corridor and the accessible toilet also has a manual door. The toilet is very spacious and clean. There are grab rails, including two horizontal grab rails either side of the toilet. The emergency red cord had not been unwrapped and was midway up the wall. I untied it and put a Euan's Guide red cord card on it. On the opposite corner was a shower and shower chair with grab rails. The shower did not look operational. On the top of the shower the shower head was missing and there was a hose without a shower head as well. This shower gave the appearance of being an unfinished Changing Places toilet, with the shower fittings, hoist and height adjustable changing mat missing. Is this meant to be a Changing Places toilet and someone just could not be bothered to complete the job? Who was the site manager who signed this off, it's shoddy and incomplete?

Staff

I only saw one museum member of staff during my visit. When I arrived he came over to welcome me. He was very helpful and listened to my access concerns. When i was walking up the steps to the Vine Street entrance, the cafe owner came to meet me and asked if he could assist. I raised with him my access concerns and he took notes and agreed to follow it up. I then went and sat outside and ordered a cake and a drink. Service was excellent. Both members of staff extremely friendly, welcoming and helpful.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Highly recommend going to the cafe even if you don't visit the museum as the food is delicious. I had a red velvet croissant. I will do a separate review for this. It feels to me as if this is another brand new museum building that has not given enough thought to the lived experience of disabled people or our access needs when designing the museum. I find that deeply disappointing and I won't be rushing back. If you are thinking of going to the museum and you have step free requirements I would suggest you phone up first to see if the lift situation has been resolved.

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