Overview

A great pub for wheelchair users, strongly recommended, apart from the toilet and a broken lift. If the problems noted below could be sorted out, then this could be a five-star review.

Transport & Parking

Streatham Hill Station is fully step-free but nearly a mile away, Streatham Station is (disgracefully) totally not step-free. Zillions of bus routes serve Streatham High Road. I don't know about parking in the area.

Access

The pub is on two levels and fairly new platform lift gives access to the lower, back area. This lift was broken on my most recent visit. The staff had no idea what to do about it, until my friend and I discovered that if he lent on the lift door very heavily, it was possible to operate the lift in a jerky stop-go fashion. This is obviously not at all acceptable and this lift should be repaired immediately. Plenty of room for manoeuvre, and plenty of wheelchair-friendly tables. As with all the Wetherspoons pubs I've ever been to, step-free access has been thought through, but two and half stars are deducted because of the broken lift.

Toilets

There is an accessible toilet in the front area, you'll need a RADAR key to gain access, or staff will lend you one, the toilet has enough space and the layout is OK, but I found three annoying problems, see my pictures below. (1) The red emergency cord was tucked behind a bin. This will not do! It should be easily reachable, so that it can be pulled by anyone who might fall over in the precarious wheelchair-toilet transfers. Hiding the cord behind a bin is exposing people to danger if they cannot summon prompt assistance after a fall. Very silly and thoughtless. (2) There was a bin in the wheelchair-transfer area. Again, very silly and thoughtless. This area must be kept clear so that wheelchair users can park to transfer to the toilet. (3) It is not possible to lock the RADAR lock from the inside, it is broken.

Staff

Staff are friendly, affable, keen to help, a pleasure to interact with. Whilst they did not understand the broken lift problem, a couple of them did at least come over to try and help. Amazingly, one of them didn't know how it's operated, he didn't know that you have to hold the up/down button pressed for the duration of the lift journey. Two stars lost because of the annoying and thoughtless faults in the accessible toilet mentioned above - staff should know better than to let this happen. Two more stars lost for not keeping the lift in good working order.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

This could so easily have been a five-star review. The moment I find that all the problems listed above are fixed, I will be delighted to convert it to a five-star review, because this Wetherspoons branch is in other respects excellent, and a great place for wheelchair users to visit. The food is both delicious and superb value for money.

Photos