Overview

St Cecilia's Hall, in Niddry Street, has been about for, well, ages, 1763 to be exact. Starting as a concert hall, it's been reinvented , amazingly, into a dance hall, a place for evening classes and workshops (including glass blowing), even consecrated for use by Freemasons and a lot more. But now it's part of the University of Edinburgh, with a collection of over 6000 historical musical instruments and a very ingenious and imaginative set of events - there's a museum lates in the run up to Hallowe'en, a family day which will include a spider hunt (only eight - but where will they be?) Then after a serious talk on St Cecilia's and the slave trade, there's a short series of queer themes in folk music. But one of the more exciting set of concerts coming up are the "quiet concerts", using instruments from the collection like the viol or the theorbo (no, I didn't know what it is either: it looks a bit like a giant lute). The idea is that there will be a low number of attendees, there won't be any electronic amplification or dazzling spotlights; applause will be muted; people will be able to wander around between the different pieces of music (it's all listed here: https://www.stcecilias.ed.ac.uk/whats-on/). Sitting in the reception, I watched the front door opening automatically, noted the flat accessible surfaces, the disabled toilet and the wide corridors and thought that this is a bit of all right. Seeing as there are heavy instruments which get moved about occasionally, there's also a very welcome lift. But nothing is perfect. The building, being so old, is listed (so only one lift is allowed, not two). More seriously, though, access outside the museum can only be described as challenging. This is no fault of the museum - it's a council matter. Niddry Street, which is narrow to start with, has a rough, cobbled sort of surface. However, the museum has thought very carefully about different types of accessibility (more details here: https://www.stcecilias.ed.ac.uk/visit/#access ) . The friendly, welcoming and efficient staff are aware of the difficulty of access from the street and will provide advice and suggestions if needed.

Transport & Parking

Niddry Street is very narrow, hardly any space for parking. There are buses on North Bridge.

Access

Marvellous when people are in, but not incredibly easy getting in (not the museum's fault, it's a council matter). Signage good. There are steps, but also a lift. Not sure about induction loop. There are seats at regular intervals. Not sure about alternative formats, but feel they would be available on request.

Toilets

One very clean accessible toilet and also other toilets for men and women. It was clean and tidy. I think there was space for a carer and I think there were grab rails, but didn't look for them particularly.

Staff

The staff were incredibly helpful, friendly and welcoming - I asked a lot of questions and they answered them thoroughly. I was at an event to consider how partially sighted people might consider music, and the staff were very willing to stay after the official closing time to chat and answer the audience's questions - also they let the audience try some of the instruments, particularly a hose pipe "brass" instrument.

Photos