Two recent reviews have highlighted some award winning restaurants that appear to be great places to visit but slightly inaccessible. To be fair they are both trying to change their premises to make them more inclusive so we’ll wait and see before giving a final seal of approval. This prompted our initiative to present our own BBS Awards for ‘venues that have exceptional access and style’, you can read about them here, as we’d like your nominations.
In the meantime here’s what we found regarding the less than inclusive award winning restaurants:
1st, We haven’t been to The Clove Club yet but we intend to. They’ve won many awards including 6th place in the National Restaurant Awards 2016 and highest new entry at no. 26 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. They’ve also got Michelin Star where they say,
‘The set menu showcases expertly sourced produce in dishes that are full of originality, verve and flair – but where flavours are expertly judged and complementary.’…….
As shown in their signature dish ‘Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Pine Salt’..
Based in Shoreditch Town Hall, The Clove Club was originally a supper club hosted in a London flat by owners Daniel Willis, Johnny Smith and chef Isaac McHale. Unfortunately as it’s a ‘Listed Building’ (i.e. important to our heritage but disabilities excluded, See our campaign), the access is tricky but we’re going to attempt it as the food sounds amazing. There’s a lift at the Town Hall but not connected to The Clove Club so there are 10 steps, approx. but they will provide assistance……let’s hope they’re strong?!
To their credit however they are awaiting planning permission to knock down a wall and make the restaurant fully accessible. They hope this will happen in the autumn. They also have a disabled toilet 20 metres from the restaurant which is another positive. Due to the access issues we can only award a provisional 2 BBS Ticks at the moment and we’ll update further on what appears to be a brilliantly stylish restaurant. Let’s hope LB Hackney and English Heritage speed up the wall demolition process!!!
2nd, In a similar vein The Sportsman has won top spot in the National Restaurant Awards 2016, unfortunately they still have no disabled toilets but are refurbishing in the autumn and are awaiting planning permission to have them installed. They remain at 2 BBS Ticks and we’ll check up in the winter to see what progress has been made. Here’s our original 2014 review:
The Sportsman is a gastro-pub in between Faversham and Whitstable. It is fairly low key in terms of the style but it has a fantastic reputation for being one of the finest restaurants in the area with outstanding, locally sourced, produce from ‘The Garden Of England’. A review in The Telegraph went as far as to describe the restaurant as following a “maniac localism” after the chef claimed to be able to see nearly everything he cooks from his own window.
That particular quote was obviously meant in the nicest possible way because the review also describes The Sportsman as ‘the joy of Kent’ said:
“I have not had a better, or better value, meal this year. This is not a place to pass through, it is a place to savour, to have dinner in.”
They have a daily menu written on a chalk board or you can opt for their £65 tasting menu which you need to pre-order. Examples of what to expect on the taster menu include “Braised brill fillet with a smoked herring roe sauce” and “18 month salt cured Seasalter ham”.
In terms of accessibility, the majority of the restaurant is easy to get around. There is step free access into the building and lots of flat space between tables. However, there is no disabled toilet and the toilets that they do have are up a flight of stairs. There is a hand rail alongside the stairs but that might not be good enough for many less able people.
The Sportsman serves perfect food but provides less than perfect disabled facilities. It gets a provisional 2 BBS Ticks.