Wheelie Good SHOW
BARBICAN THEATRE
Barbican Theatre was opened in 1982 as part of the Barbican Complex and is located in the City Of London close to St Paul's Cathedral and the Guildhall. It has a capacity of 1,156 and it is overseen by the City of London Corporation.
BOOKING
LOCATION
Now Showing
ACCESS
SEAT
Coming Soon
Previous shows
location
Silk Street, Barbican, London. EC2Y 8DS
Visit TFL (Transport for London) to plan your journey and make sure to check the wheelchair accessible filter. Click here for the link or download TFL GO app
This theatre is located in London City behind St Pauls. Our first time visiting the Barbican building we got very lost.
My advice is to leave lots of extra time and treat it as a mini adventure because you will probably get lost!
Also check the access page and the Barbican Accessibility page here
Accessibility
If you enter via Silk Street the corridor leads you through the foyer and up a ramp to the lifts. You need to go down in the lift and then cross over the road to the stalls.
They do have a very good access page (Click Here), but despite this we still got lost as the Barbican Complex is vast!
Once inside the theatre there is easy flat access to a box at the back where we were seated once inside.
Detailed accessibility for the Barbican can be found here.
Drinks at the interval can be preordered and are left in the foyer, however this area gets incredibly busy and can be difficult to access. Hopefully they will introduce seat service for access patrons at a later date.
Access Host
They have a specific access host to show you to your seat but you have to present at the theatre stalls doors to access this. They are quite busy and we have had to wait a few times so be patient. All the staff are polite and knowledgeable.
Toilet Facilities
There are two accessible toilets located in the foyer at the opposite side to the theatre. There were two disabled toilets. These were a good size and there was plenty of space to transfer.
You don't need a radar key to access these and the normal toilets were a floor up which meant that there was a very long queue of people who did not need to use the access toilet but who chose to instead of going upstairs to the normal toilets. (There are also additional accessible toilets upstairs but you need to leave the theatre, cross the Road and use the lift to access these)
The other patrons were very good at letting me go to the front of the queue but the whole situation was not very well managed.
Useful Links
Barbican Theatre Access Page - Click here for Barbican Theatre Access Page
Seat Plan - website showing views from seats Click here to view seat plan
Google Maps - Click here for theatre location
TFL (Transport For London) - Click here to plan your journey
Wheelie Good Show Podcast - Barbican Theatre is featured in episode ......
wheel with me
Coming Soon ....
Seat & View
There are 4 wheelchair spaces and associated carer spaces at the back of the stalls.
This is a self contained box area to the side at the back of the theatre accessed via a wide door. The space tapers towards the middle so if you have a wider or longer chair or need more leg room then book either BXA1 & BXA2 or BXB3 & BXB4 as these are the outside seats. However if you pick these seats you will need to move if any wheelchair users in BXA3 or BXB2 need to leave the box.
We have sat all of wheelchair spaces and the design of the theatre is really good with a good rake. All of the stage was visible despite it being off to the side without any obstructions or the concern of obstructing others.
booking
In order to book access seats you need to register for the Barbican Access Scheme. The link is here.
Once registered booking is easy either online logging into your account or by calling the box office on 020 7101 1188 (Mon-Sun 10am - 5:30pm) . The wheelchair seats are located at the back of the stalls and identified via a wheelchair symbol. Seat Plan is available here
If you are eligible there is a free carer ticket and an access rate so the ticket prices were very reasonable.
The Barbican Theatre also offer a variety of adaptations and assistances when booking tickets and visiting the venue. Full information can be found here
