Can a speedway venue, opened less than 10 years ago, cater to accessibility needs? Is it up to scratch for hosting significant events that are accessible to all? Let me show you!
BOOKING
Tickets for speedway events at the National Speedway Stadium (also known as Belle Vue) can be purchased online through the Belle Vue Stadium website. However, accessible tickets are booked directly with the box office over the telephone. The box office then makes the bookings via the same online system, tickets.com, so you still receive your confirmation emails and e-Tickets.
When I phoned, the member of staff I spoke to was very helpful and knowledgeable. They advised that there are wheelchair-accessible areas at each end of the two main stands, effectively one area at each corner of the stadium. The North stand is the seated grandstand, housing hospitality suites, catering facilities, and the club shop. The South stand is an unreserved general admission standing area. For Belle Vue Aces (senior team) meetings, both stands are available. For the Belle Vue Colts (junior team) meets, only the North grandstand is available. For higher-profile meetings, including the recent FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship events, additional seating is available at the eastern end of the stadium.
As I was booking a Sunday meeting for the Colts, I was advised that wheelchair spaces were available at each end of the grandstand and an area inside with a view of the track, where I could go if the weather was bad. Both grandstand areas are equally accessible, but it was suggested that I choose the west end area, seats 1-6, as that area had a view of the bikes coming on and off the track, and you could see into the pits. That sounded good to me, so I booked it!
I was also offered accessible parking at no extra charge. My name would be added to the car park list, and a wide, accessible bay would be reserved for me on the day. I would need to give my name at the gate, and the staff would guide me.
Ticketing for accessible customers works differently here than in some venues. Rather than the access customer paying for a fully priced ticket and receiving a free companion ticket, both tickets are processed as concessions here. It was stated that I would need to provide proof of disability at the turnstile to gain entry to the stadium.
Soon after booking, I received two emails. One was an email receipt for the card payment I had made over the telephone. The other was an email confirmation of my booking, which included the details of the seats I’d booked, ticket prices, the date and time of the race meet, and a link to access my tickets.
When I clicked the link, I saw the event details again, along with options to add my tickets to an Apple or Google wallet or to click to view and print. I chose to print them. The ticket is A4-sized, with instructions to fold it in half longways to fit into the stadium ticket scanners. The tickets showed the event details, seat numbers, a map, information about how to get to the stadium, stadium terms and conditions and a few bits of housekeeping such as no professional photography, what happens on the event of a cancellation and a reminder that motorsport is dangerous and you enter the stadium at your own risk.
LOCATION AND GETTING THERE
The stadium is located to the East of Manchester, a short drive from the city centre, but also a short drive from the city’s outer ring road, which connects to the North’s major road network. I was familiar with the surrounding area as it’s not far from the Etihad Stadium and Co-Op Live.
The fully accessible Manchester tram network doesn’t reach as far as Belle Vue. The nearest stops are located near the Etihad, which is approximately a 40-minute walk or roll away.
Northern rail train services between Manchester Piccadilly in the City centre and New Mills Central stop at Belle Vue railway station - the journey from Piccadilly only takes around 8 minutes. The station has ramps for train access, but there is no staff help available and no step-free access to the platforms; therefore, it is not wheelchair accessible.
There are a few Bee Network bus routes which serve the area with stops around 7 minutes away:
Bus Stop F - Belle Vue / Hyde Road
201 Manchester City Centre - Denton - Hyde - Hattersley
202 Manchester City Centre - Haughton Green - Hyde - Gee Cross
203 Manchester City Centre - Debdale Park - Reddish - Stockport
Bus Stop C - Belle Vue / Mount Road
53 Cheetham Hill - Higher Crumpsall - Old Trafford - Pendleton
150 The Trafford Centre - Trafford Park - Stretford - Abbey Hey
All buses running in Greater Manchester meet legal accessibility standards. For more information, please visit the Bee Network website.
If you’re driving in, there is parking available at the stadium. Bookable with your event tickets, the cost starts at £3.00.
East Car Park is accessible from Kirkmanshulme Lane, overlooking the third and fourth bends, reserved for season parking permit holders and motorcycles only.
South Car Park is accessible from Pink Bank Lane, off Kirkmanshulme Lane and Stanley Grove.
North Car Park is accessible from Kirkmanshulme Lane, with a limited number of spaces available.
St. Peter’s School is accessible from Kirkmanshulme Lane and is open to vehicles for Premiership and Premier Events.
Disabled parking is available for customers in the South Stand, with a limited number of spaces in the South Car Park on a first-come, first-served basis.
For Grandstand customers, blue badge holders can park on Kirkmanshulme Lane close to the pedestrian gate at the main entrance. There are also a limited number of disabled spaces available in the North Car park, reserved for permit holders only.
As I had grandstand tickets and an accessible parking bay reserved, I drove to the main gate on Kirkmanshulme Lane following the local attraction road signs. There were staff on the gate, wearing yellow high-visibility jackets, who stopped cars as they arrived. When I stopped, I gave them my name, stated that I had booked accessible parking, and showed them my blue badge. They ticked my name off the list and showed me to an accessible bay with yellow hatching right around it. The bays were right alongside the back wall of the grandstand and just a short distance from the Grandstand turnstiles.
GETTING IN
Getting into the stadium was easy. My tickets showed our entry point as the Grandstand turnstiles. The turnstiles were close to where we’d parked, so we just wheeled along the smooth tarmac and well-laid block paving, past the hospitality entrance.
A large map was displayed on the fence, showing the various areas of the stadium and indicating the location of each set of turnstiles.
As I approached the turnstiles, I saw three sets of metal turnstiles with digital ticket readers. Staff were quick to direct me over to the right, where a large set of emergency exit doors were opened to let me in.
I was greeted by a staff member and had my ticket barcodes scanned. I was straight into the concourse with no visual security checks and no hassles.
FACILITIES
As we entered the concourse, a food bar called The Start Gate was located to our left. Serving hot and cold food and drinks, you place your order and make your payment at the left-hand end of the counter and collect your order at the right-hand end. The right-hand end is lowered.
Some other food bars weren’t open on this occasion - facilities are opened in respect of ticket sales and event size, so there was only one open on this afternoon.
Accessible toilets are located on the concourse along the front of the grandstand, as well as in the hospitality area upstairs. All of the accessible toilets were a good size with colour-contrasting grab rails and toilet seats, but not all of the red cords were hanging freely - I fixed that though!
The programmes, 50/50 Draw tickets and team merchandise were all for sale on tables in the concourse, which I could easily reach.
There are lifts to help you access the upper floor and reach the wheelchair seating areas. Strangely, they were difficult to find. As the upper floor is where the hospitality suites are located, there is no general admission access to this area. There are multiple staircases up to the suites, but the lifts are concealed behind doors with no signage.
Upstairs, you’ll find the Peter Craven Suite - a large function room with interchangeable layouts that can accommodate up to 400 people. Large windows give you a brilliant view down over the start/finish straight. There is a bar and toilets available up there, and you can book hospitality packages that include hot fork buffets, drinks packages, premium seating, and access to post-race press conferences.
There are also some private executive boxes used for hospitality packages.
SEATING
Getting to the wheelchair area wasn’t easy! Our tickets showed we were in Block A, Row DC, seats 3W and 3C. Just inside the turnstile, a sign on the wall directed you to where you needed to be. We were directly in the middle of the stadium, so Blocks A-C and seats 77-90 of row D were to our right, and Blocks E-G and seats 91-104 of row D were to our left. The accessible toilets were shown on the sign, but there was no mention of Row DC. Logic said Block A was far to our right, so we headed that way, hoping someone would be able to point us to where we needed to be.
I wheeled along the concourse, heading down towards where Block A was located, and followed the sign up the narrow tunnel to the Block A seating area. At the far end of the tunnel was a staff member who asked if he could help. I showed him our tickets, and he said we were in the wrong place. Where he was standing led to stairs up to the front row of seating, and there was no step-free route. He pointed up to the back of the stand and said that that was the Block A wheelchair area, where he thought we were meant to be. He led us back into the concourse and said we needed to take the lift. Unfortunately, he had no idea where the lift was! (As I pointed out in the ‘Facilities’ section, the lifts are hidden behind doors!).
The best thing to do was to return to the turnstiles where we had entered, look again for additional signage, and if we still couldn’t figure it out, there were staff members available who could (hopefully) help.
There was no additional signage anywhere, so I asked at the turnstile for help. One lady said ‘Through that door, which was a white door with no signage at all. Another lady shouted across, ‘No, not that one, it’s the other lift’. There’s more than one lift, and we just couldn’t find any of them!
A third lady said she would help us, and she took us to the door in the left-hand corner. Again, there is no signage on the door, but judging by the large wall sign at the turnstiles, this is the way through to Blocks E-G. At the end of this corridor, there was a sign on the wall showing how to access Blocks E, F and G (the opposite end of the grandstand to where we needed to be!) To our left, there was another white door; this time, it had a sign on it: ‘Staff Only’. Past the staff toilets was a lift that the lady said would take us upstairs - just press the one button.
Upon exiting the lift, to the left was a door marked ‘Staff Only’ and a large glass door labelled ‘Open Viewing Area G’ with a wheelchair logo, leading out to the wheelchair area.
The enclosed area in which we were has large glass windows with a great view down onto the track and a large door leading into another enclosed area. There is a wheelchair log on the wall above the window - this is the covered area I was told about when I booked.
Through another large door, and you’re into the Peter Craven Suite - the upstairs hospitality area. There is a bar to your right, with windows lining the left-hand wall, and lots of round tables. Partway along the right-hand wall was an area set up for the post-race press conference. Opposite this, on the left-hand wall, was the hospitality seating in section D of the grandstand.
I just kept wheeling forwards, heading towards the opposite end of the grandstand. It was a slalom around the tables and chairs, but I headed for the large door in the hope I was going the right way. As I got nearer to the door, there was a sign showing the door leads to The Boardroom hospitality suites, toilets and Open Viewing Area A. Bingo, we’d sussed it! Past the toilets, we turned left at the end of the corridor, then right through the glass door and out into the wheelchair area.
I’m guessing there must be a lift towards this end of the grandstand, as we wouldn’t be able to have free access to wheel through the Peter Craven Suite for a full meeting. However, without trying every white door we passed, I don’t know. In theory, there will also be stairs leading up from the concourse for the hospitality guests, but without further exploration, nothing was clear. My companion thought we might get some clarity when she headed off for refreshments - she entered the Peter Craven Suite and asked a member of the security staff how to get downstairs to The Start Gate food counter - he didn’t know. She also asked at the bar, explaining that she’d come up in the lift with a wheelchair user and wanted to go for refreshments; they just said to use the lift we’d come up in. I appreciate that they don’t want people in the hospitality areas who shouldn’t be there, but surely there’s no harm in putting up a few signs? It just felt very complicated. Again, for a bigger event, I’m guessing there’ll be more staff to help out, but with a few signs, we’d have been able to find our way around without having to ask for help.
The wheelchair areas consist of six fixed seats for wheelchair companions, with spaces between them for the wheelchairs. As this is the only step-free seating option in the stadium, seats can also be added for ambulant disabled ticketholders.
The area behind the seating is spacious, with ample room to store mobility aids, powered fronts, etc.
There’s a railing in front of the area to separate you from the back row or seating. The bottom of this partition has glass panels. The wheelchair area is a good height above the back row of seats, so if people were to stand up during the races, your view should still be excellent.
The areas are undercover to protect you from the rain. The ends of the stand are constructed using metal sheeting and concrete blocks. At the front, alongside the end seat, there is a metal railing and a glass panel, similar to those in front of the seats. This prevents any of your view from being obstructed; however, when it rained during the meeting, the end section did get wet due to the rain blowing in.
As we’d booked the wheelchair area in Block A, we were positioned at the end of the start/finish straight, near turn one, where the bikes enter the track. We had the added benefit of being able to see out of the end of the stand and look down onto the pits, where the bikes were being worked on and prepared for the races.
The position of the area was excellent - we could see all of the track, all of the action, and we could hear the PA system announcements.
The event lasted a bit longer than usual. The heavy rain shower made the track conditions tricky, so the track action was paused for a while to let the rain pass and maintain the track, ready for racing again. The races come quickly, one after the other, so you’re always entertained.
GETTING BACK OUT
When the on-track action finished, we headed back into the Peter Craven Suite to make our way back through to the lift. By this point, the post-race press conference was underway, along with the prize-giving ceremony for the junior classes, so we waited a while to watch what was happening.
As we headed to the lift, two ladies seemed lost, trying to find their way out. One was using a walking aid. They said they’d come up in the lift but couldn’t find their way back to it. We guided them to the lift we’d used to come up. They were convinced it wasn’t the one they’d come up in, especially when we came back onto the concourse - they were adamant they’d gone through a door on the other side of the concourse, which would support my theory that there are multiple lifts!
By this point, we were just about the only ones still in the concourse. The main exits had been closed, and the staff had gone, but the lovely lady from the club shop led us out through to the hospitality entrance and back out into the car park. Funnily enough, the door was marked ‘Staff Only’ and we passed another lift!
The car park was almost empty by now, so it was an easy drive back out!
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
It was a great afternoon - lots of racing, a great view of the track, and a nice part of the stadium to be sitting in.
The facilities are all clean and modern.
The tickets are good value for money - £13 each for access customers and their companion for 2.5 hours (ish) of racing is very reasonable. The rain delay meant we were at the stadium longer than you would usually be, but we were under cover and dry, so no problem!
The lack of signs is an issue. I appreciate that they won’t want people wandering into hospitality areas, but there should be signs for the lifts. Even if it were just advertised with a wheelchair logo, that would be an improvement. It didn’t make sense to have to go all the way to one end of the grandstand, up to the upper level, then the full length of the grandstand through the hospitality bar. There must have been an alternative lift, but no one directed us to it or seemed to know if it existed. I’m guessing things are different for bigger events.
Being able to park on-site, close to the turnstiles, was good. Again, it might be different for larger events, but based on the information on their website, they appear to have accessible parking and viewing arrangements in place.
