People don’t believe me when I say there are Michelin Starred restaurants without disabled facilities. There are and here are my selection for the BBS Bonfire:
I was going to put the Heston restaurants in Bray, The Fat Duck & The Hinds Head on the Bonfire but they seem to have followed our advice and our badgering of the local council. They’ve added grab rails etc to the downstairs staff toilet in the Fat Duck but the Hinds Head opposite has just a Gents you can use on the ground floor. So Fat Duck is saved and Hinds Head goes on!
The Hand & Flowers by Tom Kerridge in Bray. They have no room for a toilet and haven’t even bothered with a portable ramp, see previous post. Club Gascon, have no room and Tamarind is down 22 steps. The West House in Gt. Biddenden in Kent have no loo but there’s public one at the end of the village & no response still to my query as to whether they will add one.
Sketch and their Lecture room & Library restaurant is still up 10 steps but they could buy a stair-climber that doesn’t affect the Grade II Listed walls or even put in a lift after all this time (see previous comments re inaccessibility and the Blue £ or Cripple Cash in the You & Yours article from 2003). Oh I forgot my favourite from Daniel Clifford Midsummer House , Cambridge who have room & planning permission but still send their customers to a grotty pub across a bridge for a disabled pee!
So why do they get Michelin Stars when they are not equally available to everyone.
If Chefs of this quality are opening restaurants then they should want to be in venues that are 100% accessible. Perhaps Property Developers, Architects, Planning Departments and of course Michelin Guides should also heed the Equality Act (and our disposable income’s of an estimated £2BN/year); they’re going on the bonfire as well.
If you have a gripe and want to vent get in touch and we’ll print your comments and burn them on the BBS Bonfire, symbolically of course!?
