Kingston Pryzm (Travel, Hotel and Venue Wheelchair Accessibility Review)

Another access review (of sorts), for this, I’m reviewing my entire experience as a solo, disabled, travelling gig goer for Kaiser Chiefs album release show at Kingston Pryzm. This means I’m putting a train/tube travel review, a hotel review and a venue access review all in one, so it’ll be a little different to my usual access reviews, but hopefully give a fuller picture of my experience.

(Disclaimer: I’m aware “accessibility” means different things to different people, as I said before, these are MY views on my experience of accessibility at this venue as an electric wheelchair user, I obviously can’t speak for others experiences but feel free to add your experiences in the comments!)

Train/Tube

Travelling on the hottest day on record (or the hottest July day on record? Either way it was bloody warm) , I expected to have travel issues using the train from Chippenham to London Paddington and back and then tubes and a bus across London, but to my surprise there were no issues. My tickets were booked through Trainline as usual. Then I ended up getting on an earlier train than my booked assistance, on both the outbound and return journey to try and negate any potential travel issues, and getting an earlier train proved to be no issue. Once I arrived at Paddington it was a case of taking 2 tubes and a bus to Kingston. Specifically, I took the Circle line from Paddington to Hammersmith, the District line from Hammersmith to Richmond and then a bus to Kingston and a short walk from there to the hotel.

Hotel

 I had some issues with my stay at Travelodge Kingston Upon Thames Central. Simply that I was not provided with the accessible room I had booked due to a system issue, but I made the situation work. On the whole, the room was functional, it was basic but good for a one night gig stay over sort of situation like I was doing. The one thing I couldn’t fault was the location as it was just a short walk from both the bus stop and the venue. It’s also worth saying that since this experience I’ve had a 50% refund on this stay and have had another stay in this hotel where I stayed in an accessible room with a full accessible wet room.

Venue

I hadn’t been to a Banquet Records show since the venue switch from the Hippodrome to Pryzm had been made. However, buying tickets was the same process of buying through the Banquet Records site and leaving a note re access needs in the booking notes. On the night, once I’d been through the ID check I made myself known to Banquet staff who took me around the metal detector and through the bag check. I was then taken up in a lift where the button had to be held the entire duration of the ride up. I think this is a better access format than it was at the Hippodrome as those who’ve read my Hippodrome review will know that access to the accessible viewing platform there was via a slightly questionable ramp. I was then taken to the specific disabled access boxes at Pryzm which I believe are higher up than the access platform at the Hippodrome and therefore provide a better view, they also involve not having to go down any sort of ramp like the one I mentioned earlier from the Hippodrome!

I hope this guide to my entire experience of this gig is helpful!

Stay Invincible!

Em (Invincible Woman On Wheel