Access Statement for Lancaster City Museum

Introduction

The City Museum is prominently positioned in Market Square. It is within walking distance of both the train and bus stations.

Lancaster City Museum is a VAQAS Quality Assured Visitor Attraction. It comprises both the City Museum collection, and the King’s Own Royal Regiment Museum.

The ground floor is completely accessible, and can be reached via the main steps or a ramp which is accessed by the entrance to Lancaster Library. The first floor is accessed by the main staircase. There is a stair lift which is regrettably not accessible to wheelchairs which exceed the weight limit. In the event of an evacuation, wheelchair users will be evacuated using the museum evac chair, by a trained member of staff. For this reason, only one wheelchair can be permitted on the first floor at any one time.

A Hearing Loop is available.

Pre-Arrival

Lancaster Railway station is less than 1 mile away and has a taxi rank situated outside. Both major local taxi services can provide accessible vehicles (see p.5 for details).

Lancaster Bus station is less than 1 mile away and the route from the station to the museum is up a mild uphill slope.

Pedestrian access to the museum is very good.

Car Parking and Arrival

There is no parking available on site, due to the city centre location of the museum. There are two blue badge parking spaces at the back of the museum for city centre visitors. There are numerous pay and display car parks around the city centre within walking distance of the museum.

The main entrance features double doors which can both be opened. If one or both doors are closed due to bad weather, front of house staff will be happy to assist.

Main Entrance, Reception and Shop

There is one main entrance which is at the front of the museum. The shop and reception area is the first area you come into, once you have entered the building. A Hearing Loop is installed, and staff can give assistance where required.

The shop and reception area has a stone slab floor, and is all level access. The two temporary exhibition galleries are accessed directly from reception and there are no steps into these areas. The shop and reception are lit with a combination of track lighting and natural light from the entrance and gallery windows.

The counter is fully open with no glass dividers. A section of the desk is lower. Local information can be found here too.

Attraction (displays, exhibits etc.)

Ground floor: Both temporary exhibition galleries on the ground floor are level access. There is seating available in both of the galleries.

There is a ramp at the back of Gallery 1 which rises approximately 45 cm. This provides wheelchair and pushchair access to a raised area at the bottom of the main staircase.

First floor: The first floor is accessed by the main staircase. There is a stair lift which is regrettably not accessible to wheelchairs which exceed the weight limit, such as electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters. In the event of an evacuation, wheelchair users will be evacuated using the museum Evac Chair, by a trained member of staff. For this reason, only one wheelchair can be permitted on the first floor at any one time. Once on the first floor, the local history gallery is level access.The King’s Own Royal Regiment Museum is partially level access, except for its mezzanine level. A small stair lift is available which has a seat, and cannot take a wheelchair. Visitors who use this stair lift must be able to climb down the stairs independently in the event of an emergency.

The museum displays include traditional boards and cases containing objects and labels. No braille is included on the boards and currently there are no translations into other languages.

The local history gallery is lit with track lighting. Some parts of this area have controlled lighting to protect the objects. No flashing lights or audio are currently used in the local history gallery of the King’s Own Royal Regiment Museum.

Floor covering throughout the museum includes stone slabs, short-pile carpet, wood, and linoleum. Seating is provided around the museum with stools and chairs available throughout. Lighting is provided by track lighting and natural light via windows throughout. Light levels can dim when natural light is low.

All doors are a minimum of 84cm/33inches.

Public Toilets

There are no public toilets available at the City Museum.

Additional Information

An Evac+ Chair is provided on the first floor for assisted evacuation. Assistance will be provided by a trained member of staff.

Assistance dogs are welcome in the museum and pictogram signage is used throughout on emergency exits. Emergency signs are green and white in colour in a large font, and glow in the dark.

Future Plans

We hope to provide an orientation guide to the museum in more than one language.

We aim to improve the availability of interpretation on the ground floors that more of the collections can be accessed by everyone.

Contact Information 

• Telephone:         01524 64637
• Email:                  lancastercitymuseum@lancaster.gov.uk

Grid Reference

• SD 47610 61729

Hours Of Operation:

• Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm
• During Lancashire summer holidays we open every Monday. Throughout summer we open on bank holiday Mondays.
• Closed for the Christmas and New Year period.

Local Accessible Taxi

32090 Taxis (01524 32090) and 848 Taxis (01524 848848) both have accessible vehicles in their fleets.

Local Public Transport

Lancaster Train Station and Lancaster Bus Station are both less than 1 mile away.