The Blue Badge Access Awards 2024/5 launched 23rd Oct & Final Announced as May 1st ’25.
The 6th edition of The Blue Badge Access Awards (BBAAs) launched on weds 23rd Oct at Gaucho Piccadilly which reward exceptional accessibility and inclusivity shown by venues in the hospitality, leisure, and tourism industry.
The 12 awards will be presented 1st May 2025, ranging from Best Bar and Best Historic Building and Best Conceptual Design. The Ludicrous Loo Award returns, and the theme will be ‘Intersectionality’ highlighted by the inclusion of a new award – Best Access at a LGBTQ+ Venue.
The great and good from the world of disability and hospitality were in attendance including Kate Nicholls , OBE, CEO of UK Hospitality and Government disability Ambassador, Co-founder Robin Sheppard , President of Bespoke Hotels, Ed Warner MBE, Govt Disability Ambassador and Ross Calladine of Visit England and Govt. Accessible Tourism Ambassador. There were also the disabled glitterati in attendance.
Gaucho Restaurant, Piccadilly Hosted The BBAA 24/25 Launch
Marc Goblot, Tech Disability Advocate Launches a New Virtual Access Gallery
The Team From Sponsor Motability
Stephen Maley From Sponsor HEWI & Katy Phillips From Hotel Designs
Isaac Harvey, Disabled Videographer & Samanta Bullock From Bullock Inclusion & Fashion Brand London Represents
The BBAA Team
Lizzie & Charlie Mistry Adopt the New Logo
The organisers of the BBAAs are keen to set the gold standard for encouraging the industry to get accessibility right for a disabled person and making it stylish, thoughtful and innovative. There are many very good reasons why this initiative needs progress.
There are 14.6 million disabled people in the U.K This means that more than 1 in 5 potential consumers have a disability.
· The spending power of disabled people and their household is estimated to be £274bn a year and a report by Purple Pound says that the UK’s pubs/restaurants are losing approximately £163m every month by ignoring the needs of disabled people (Purple Pound 2022).
· 45% of disabled consumers have said that their choice of hospitality venues was limited because of their disability or access needs (Disability Forum 2022 study)
· The results of the 2022 Euan’s Guide to Access Survey have just been released: 72% of disabled people have found accessibility information on a venue’s website to be misleading or inaccurate, and report their experience is disappointing or they must change their plans due to poor accessibility.
Fiona Jarvis CEO of Blue Badge Style & Co-Founder of the BBAA says “Nominations are open to the public or any venue or organization. The Blue Badge Access Awards are about exceeding the expectations of disabled people and to give recognition to businesses and establishments that have addressed accessibility imaginatively and thoughtfully. The very definition of hospitality is to welcome, and this is at the very heart of the BBAA. Unfortunately, we have seen some bad examples of accessibility. A ‘Ludicrous Loo’ where the chef parks his bike in the so-called ‘disabled toilet’, also used it as a storage area.
In addition, the ‘intersectionality’ of disability is not to be ignored. You may use a wheelchair and be neuro diverse or as highlighted to me, a wheelchair user may also be gay hence our new LGBTQ+ Award. It will be interesting to see how many venues get nominated and I’m reaching out to the community to send us the positive and negative. The famous Gay area of Canal Street in Manchester has already been called out as largely inaccessible! Shocking”. https://bluebadgestyle.com/
The Tourism Industry needs to wake up – Accessible accommodation pays ££’s!
· Accessible Tourism in England is worth £15.3 billion a year (Visit Britain)
· This expenditure is generated by those with an impairment or travel within a group.
· Disabled guests who require accessible facilities, will travel with others, take longer trips, 2.5 nights compared with 1.8 and are very loyal to hospitality venues that get it right, 75% of disabled guests will return to venues that get it right.
Robin Sheppard President of Bespoke Hotels and Co-Founder of the BBAA says “We have a long way to go, but the industry is making good progress towards ‘Liberty’. The freedom to go to a hotel where you are not dreading the bathroom or the toilet. Where your room doesn’t look like a hospital ward. Where the electric curtains can be controlled from the bedside and where you can transfer from a wheelchair to a hotel bed unassisted because it has been designed at the right height or even better there’s a concealed hoist”. He adds, “We invested in 18 Liberty suites at our own Hotel Brooklyn in Manchester which brought in additional revenue of £132,000 last year. That’s 100 an extra bed nights every 4 weeks! This along with associated events contributed to a combined income of £217,000 from accessible facilities”.
Suzy and Robin Sheppard, C0-Founder of The BBAAs
Present at the BBAA launch – Ed Warner CEO and founder of Motionspot, the inclusive design specialist involved in creating the Liberty suites at the Hotel Brooklyn said “Too often rooms for a disabled person are second rate, less desirable and often clinical looking. At Hotel Brooklyn we have shown that the beautifully designed accessible rooms can be the most popular in the hotel. Designing hotels and venues to be more accessible is not just the right thing to do but makes good business sense.” https://motionspot.co.uk/
The BBAA’s Access Ambassador – Celebrity Chef Michael Caines MBE Executive Chef, Lympstone Manor said “These awards focus the minds of designers and architects to become creative and forward thinking for the needs of all. The future should be all about inclusivity. My hope for tomorrow is that spaces are designed with consideration for all people’s needs. Accessible, creative, beautiful, and above all, inclusive. The hospitality sector should be leading the way, inspiring other sectors to follow our lead”.
Our new sponsors and supporters are Motability, Gaucho and Peroni
The BBAA has relied on HEWI’s enduring support as principal sponsors since its inception in 2016. HEWI are leading specialists in accessible sanitary solutions. Amongst the BBAA’s many loyal supporters, sponsors and partners, newcomers Motability, Gaucho restaurants and Peroni were announced as a new sponsor & supporter at the Awards launch. Motability,
‘currently have over 800,000 people across the UK who are enjoying the everyday freedom and independence that the Motability Scheme enables……. The Motability Scheme offers an affordable way for disabled people to lease a new car, wheelchair-accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair’
· Best Venue in a Listed/Historic Building – supported by Historic England
· Best LGBTQ+ Venue
· Best Accessible Bathroom/Toilet – sponsor Blue Badge Style
· Media Access Champion/Journalist
· Access Champion of the Year – sponsor Blue Badge Style
· Best Accessible day Out – sponsor Motability
Best International Venue – in partnership with Sleeper & AHEAD Awards
Conceptual Design Awards: with a £20,000 prize fund across the two awards.
The Celia Thomas Award for Conceptual Design for Disabled Guests (open to architects and designers) The Microsoft Award for Inclusive Guest Innovation (open to all)
