Building
Our building is fully accessible. If you have any specific access requirements please inform the Duty Manager or Box Office Team on 020 8232 1019, before you arrive if possible.
We have added a pop-up Box Office outside the cinema to reduce the amount of travelling you need to do within the venue and to aid audience flow as part of our Covid-secure measures. You are able to give your vehicle registration number and book carer tickets at this Box Office if you wish. We do recommend you book ahead wherever possible by phone however.
Carer tickets
If you are registered disabled, we always allow for one free carer ticket as well as your disabled concession. This can be booked via the Box Office only on 020 8232 1010 (between 1-7pm) or please email info@watermans.org.uk
If you wish to book a carer ticket before the phone lines open at 1pm, please call General Enquiries on 020 8232 1019 and we will book you in. Please note, this applies to carer bookings only.
Parking
Disabled customers park for free at Watermans. We have parking spaces reserved for disabled visitors although blue badge holders can park in any bay. The venue can be accessed directly from the car park. Please ensure that your Blue Badge is clearly displayed and you register your number plate at the Box Office in order to validate your free parking for the day. This is necessary due to our automated parking system. There is a new pop-up Box Office outside the cinema where you can now do this.
Lift access
There is lift access to all levels and accessible ramps internally and externally to the Box Office, Cinema and Theatre level.
Wheelchair users
Both our Cinema and Theatre have spaces for wheelchairs, however our Box Office Team should be told if you require one at the time of booking as these spaces are inevitably limited. Our cinema has space for three wheelchairs to the right of the front row. Our theatre has four wheelchair spaces, two on either side of the auditorium as you enter the theatre.
Accessible toilet
There are disabled toilet facilities on the riverside level. This can be accessed through a radar key. If you do not own a radar key, please ask at the Bar for our key and please return the key when finished.
Backstage facilities are also accessible to disabled performers.
Hearing impaired and visually impaired cinema screenings
We have an internal audio system for patrons who are hearing impaired and/or visually impaired. We currently do not have a loop system which can link to external hearing aids.
Hearing impaired facilities
We offer assisted hearing headsets for many of our screenings which can be collected from the Box Office upon arrival. The soundtrack can be heard from our regular speakers but also through the headsets for enhanced hearing.
Hard of Hearing screenings
We always have at least one Hard of Hearing screening of each film once a week, which features subtitles for the duration of the film (unless the film does not come with this version embedded) Please look for the ear icon against the film or on our website.
Visually impaired facilities
After our testing phase for audio description in February, we are moving forward with audio description screenings. We will now be combining our Hard of Hearing screenings with audio description. This means the subtitles will be on screen for the duration of the film and if requested, customers using our headsets would be given a narration of anything that is unspoken during the film.
The headsets can be collected from Box Office upon arrival. Please look out for these symbols below online and in our cinema brochures.
Please be aware that only the audio description comes through the headsets, not the dialogue also. All patrons are welcome.
Website
Arts and culture is for everyone and, just as in our building, we work hard to make our website accessible to all.
We work with our website developers and designers to ensure that we follow the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG2) which makes the World Wide Web inclusive to all. This is an ongoing process and our aim is to make your experience of our website as useful, enjoyable and easy at it can be.
Tips to improving your browsing experience
There are some changes you can make to your computer to make any website, including ours, easier use on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet. The BBC have a great guide which covers areas including:
- Making text larger
- Using a different font
- Changing colours
- Using screenreaders
- Using your keyboard instead of a mouse
See the BBC website accessibility how-to guides
