Overview

I took my elderly, ambulant disabled mum to see Rod Stewart at the Castle having purchased accessible tickets, thinking we would have a good view in a safe seating area. Wrong! Entry to the Castle was good with stewards creating a passageway and leading attendees with mobility issues safely up the side of the crowded entrance. The passageway was not sectioned off by barriers or anything meaning there were a few random concert goers "falling" into the area but not really causing any problem. Once inside we found our seats easily enough. At first we thought these looked good, away from the crowd at the bottom of the seated stand area but how wrong were we! We were seated beside the entrance ramp/passage into the stand area, it became obvious quite quickly that our view would be obstructed by a constant stream of attendees going in and out to their seats. In addition to this there was no signage when they had come in this area advising them which way to go for their seat nos. which as well as resulting in a constant stream of people passing us meant they also stopped in front of us and looked around to see which way they should be going. We thought this would stop or at least calm down when the concert started but sadly it didn't as a stream of people constantly made their way to the bar and toilets, often standing right in front of our view to listen or dance to whatever song was on before they went in or out. A few times I approached the stewards to ask them to ask these particular people who had just decided to stand on the entrance ramp/passage either oblivious to the fact that we were there or just choosing to ignore us to move on. I gave up asking the stewards for help as they were well aware this was a continuous problem and should really have been a bit more pro-active in helping us. As well as being unable to see the stage we couldn't even see the screens at times. I felt really bad for my mum taking her to something I was sure she would love only for her to be left disappointed. I felt like I was invisible at times despite being able bodied, I'm sure this made my mum feel even more invisible which isn't nice for someone who is disabled. What is even more disappointing is the fact that I have contacted Edinburgh Castle Concerts twice now only to be ignored by then. I don't usually give feedback but I feel so disappointed for people like my mum who have experienced this that I wanted to provide some feedback but clearly they just don't care. I won't be taking my mum there again. The area they have sectioned off for disabled visitors is not at all practical. For info, I took my mum to the Hydro in Glasgow earlier this year, their disabled seating area is so much better with clear, unobstructed views and attentive staff.

Transport & Parking

Access

Toilets

Staff