A Grade II Listed Industrial building repurposed as an inclusive and welcoming arts venue. Did they do it right and hit the right notes? Read on and find out.
BOOKING
Ticket booking for the Boiler Shop is online via TicketWeb, which is part of the Ticketmaster family. Access customers buy one general admission ticket, and the venue provides a companion ticket on request. However, you should contact the venue BEFORE you purchase your ticket to confirm that there is platform space available (if required)
The Boiler Shop have an in-house access scheme to make attending their events easier. There’s a form to fill in, and they ask you to provide some evidential documentation, and then your details are saved in their system. The next time you want to attend, you can just email them and arrange your companion ticket and platform space, if required.
So, for example, you see an event advertised that you really like the look of. It’s going on sale in three days’ time. Email the Boiler Shop and explain that you are an access customer interested in that event and would like a platform space and a companion ticket.
They will email you back to confirm whether or not there is space on the platform. If you are already an access scheme member, they won’t need any more details from you now. If you’re a new customer, you’ll be asked to complete the registration form.
Once this is done with the venue, you can book your ticket as usual when it goes on sale, and your companion ticket will be at the door on the day of the event.
Being on the access scheme does not guarantee a space on the platform or a companion ticket. Spaces are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
You should always check platform availability before booking and paying for your tickets.
When I booked my tickets for this event, the process was slightly different from normal.
I’ve been on the Boiler Shop access scheme for a while, so I emailed them to request to reserve a wheelchair space and a companion ticket for the event. When I received the email reply, it was confirmed that space was available, and I was given a link to a TicketWeb page for the event. I was asked to purchase my ticket via the link and then forward the order number to confirm the platform booking.
When I clicked on the link, rather than the usual ‘general admission’ ticket option, it offered the option to buy an accessible ticket. I followed through the process to make the purchase, then sent the booking reference number back to the Boiler Shop - job done!
There was a note on the bottom of the email that read:
“As a polite reminder, we can only guarantee a space for yourself on the bay, and your PA may be required to stand on or off the bay depending on availability.”
In the past, it’s been said that my companion might not get a seat on the platform, but never that they may not be able to actually be on the platform!
My event ticket was emailed to me with a QR code, which I could print out or show on a mobile device at the door.
LOCATION AND GETTING THERE
The Boiler Shop is a few minutes’ walk or roll out of the city centre. It is close to the banks of the River Tyne and has good road links to the A1(M).
It is alongside Newcastle Central railway station, reflecting its history as a cornerstone of locomotive building by the Stephenson family 200 years ago.
There’s easy access to a taxi rank. The Tyne and Wear Metro services Central Station with links as far as Newcastle Airport and Sunderland. All stations are step-free on the Metro system.
There’s a Crowne Plaza hotel almost next door, a multi-storey car park, and street parking. The venue does not have its own designated car parking.
There are additional hotels within a short distance.
If you aren’t familiar with the city, you might find the location strange, away from the main city centre, but it works really well!
GETTING IN
Very little traffic uses the side street where the Boiler Shop is located.
The general access queue will be along the wall of the Royal Mail sorting office on the right-hand side of the road as you make your way down.
There are very few (if any, at all!) dropped kerbs down the street, so your best bet is to (carefully) make your way down the middle of the road to the metal barriers.
Security staff put up temporary barriers to keep the queues back, away from the door, and the artists’ entrance clear.
Once it’s time for the doors to open, the security staff will move the barriers to let you through. You’ll move forward to a table for a quick security check, usually just your bags, before you get the nod to make your way down to the door.
The large doorway has a ramped entrance. You’ll get your ticket scanned here before heading up the ramp and into the venue.
There are large glass doors inside which are propped open.
As you enter, the box office is just on the right-hand side. Here, you confirm your arrival (access customers only) and get instructions on where to find the platform if you’ve never been.
The floor continues to slope upwards into the main room.
FACILITIES
As the floor levels out, you’ll find the accessible toilet with a radar key lock on the left-hand side. It’s not a huge toilet, but it has the relevant grab rails and facilities. The positioning of the red cord is questionable - in the corner, behind the toilet - certainly not easy to reach! The hand soap dispenser is quite high, and there’s a pedal bin - doh!
The bottom of the ramp for the access platform is over to the right - I’ll return to the platform in the next section!
Straight ahead of you is the wall down the side of the building, constructed of large windows.
The sound desk is in the middle of the floor.
The main bar is at the left-hand end of the room. It has no lowered counters. There is also an additional ‘Pop Up’ bar for some events. This bar has a limited stock of drinks, but the countertop is reachable from a wheelchair.
Free tap water is only available at the main bar.
The stage is at the right-hand end of the room. It’s only two-thirds of the width of the room. There is a spiral staircase in the corner of the room, plus access to the ‘backstage’ area, so that corner is entirely fenced off.
The merch table is between the fenced-off area and the access platform. Again, it has a low countertop, making it accessible for everyone.
SEATING
There are benches at the back near the bar for some events with lower ticket sales. Otherwise, there is no seating at all in the venue.
So, the platform. Where can I start apart from the ramp? It’s not just any ramp, it’s a steep ramp. An ‘impossible to push up by yourself’ ramp. Although the platform isn’t particularly high, the ramp is relatively short. It runs at a slight angle from the platform itself and doesn’t have a handrail, so there is nothing to hold on to if you get stuck halfway up!
The platform has a staff member at the bottom of the ramp, making sure no one is on there that shouldn’t be and, I guess, to offer any assistance. Assuming my companion could manage, they didn’t help me get up the ramp.
The platform has a row of chairs across the back marked as ‘reserved’ with names on, as usual, plus the frontmost space marked as reserved for a wheelchair. What was different this time was that there were two spaces marked as reserved for wheelchairs along the side of the platform, near the top of the ramp. In theory, this isn’t an issue - my chair is a standard-sized manual, so people behind me should be able to see over me. If the chairs here were larger electric chairs, they would block the view. Likewise, with the ramp, a standard-sized chair could get past me onto the ramp, but a large electric wheelchair? Not without me moving. And if the large electric chair were parked at the top of the ramp, it would be challenging. On this occasion, three relatively standard-sized chairs fit in, didn’t block the ramp, and everyone could get in and out.
And the companions? Well, each relevant companion stood behind their access customers’ chairs, and the companions with the other two wheelchair users squeezed into the back corner of the platform. So what about my companion? Where were they meant to go? Standing behind or beside me would block the view of others. There were no spare chairs or anywhere to put a chair near me. Not wanting to be awkward or cause anyone an issue, they saw the best option: get off the platform and stand in front of me. That way, I could reach them to get their attention if needed. They could check on me. They were within reach if I needed any assistance or care. We couldn’t hear each other, but that can easily be worked around. Sounds good on paper. My companion is 5’5” tall, so saw very little of the show. Stood at the ‘back’ of the crowd, people assumed they weren’t bothered about seeing the show. When I needed help on the ramp to get to and from the toilet, their space in front of the platform was taken. It wasn’t an ideal situation.
Neither the staff member working the platform nor any other person on the platform offered a solution - no one moved along to give them room, shuffle chairs around, or do anything else.
Something else that we noticed that was different from some previous visits was that there was no longer any restriction on standing along the edge of the ramp. Usually, people have been stopped from sitting on the edge of the ramp or standing in front, or at the end of, the ramp, but not this time. This meant that the way from the platform to the accessible toilet was not kept clear. It’s hard enough to control your chair going down the steep ramp, but there’s the risk of it becoming a game of skittles with everyone gathered at the bottom.
As often happens with raised platforms, we gathered a small collection of empty plastic cups throughout the show!
There are also some protruding wing nuts holding the platform edging together. They could be a bit smaller and safer.
The thing that annoys me the most about the platform is its placement. It’s near the door, near the accessible toilet, and close to the merch - all great, but you’re nowhere near the stage! You are way out to one side of the stage, and a pillar obstructs the view! You also lose some of the right-hand side of the stage due to where the backstage is fenced off.
You don’t feel part of the audience; you’re stuck on the side, out of the way. Many access customers complain about being at the back of gigs, but in some ways, I’d rather be at the back and see the whole stage rather than lose a chunk of the performance.
Moving the platform could reduce the floor capacity and make getting to the toilet more difficult, but it spoils a very good venue.
At a previous event with much fewer ticket sales, I convinced the staff to let me go down the front. They weren’t keen, but it was a band I wanted to see from the barrier. I was near the fire exit, and the people around me protected me, so it was all good, but I’m guessing it would be a one-off. You know, health and safety and all that!
GETTING BACK OUT
As everyone headed for the exit, there was no point in heading straight down the ramp - I wouldn’t get far!
Waiting that extra few minutes allowed me to grab a picture with the lead singer of the headline band and the support act at the merch table before the short wheel back out onto the street.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
It’s a great venue in the sense of its location and being step-free, but the platform placement and not being able to sit with my wife spoiled it!
