Can a 3,000-capacity temporary venue near the home of the 2012 London Olympics tick the boxes for accessibility customers, or is it a step too far in terms of sustainability? The steel and timber-clad structure, featuring a 3000-capacity arena, is the world’s largest demountable temporary venue for an innovative virtual concert and will be relocated to another site when the show concludes. Does it work? Is it accessible? Read on!
BOOKING
General tickets for the ABBA Arena can be purchased from several outlets, including websites that specialise in tickets for London theatre shows. The auditorium is designed to accommodate 1,650 seats and has space for a standing audience of 1,350. There is a large dance floor with three rows of seating surrounding it, with an additional step-free row for access customers. There are also stepped seating rows that encircle the arena, as well as eight dance booths accommodating groups of up to 12 people.
Accessible tickets are purchased directly with the ABBA Arena via the AXS ticketing system.
Bookers are required to hold an Access Card (sometimes referred to as a Nimbus Card or the CredAbility Card). The card system translates your disability/impairment into symbols that highlight the barriers you face and the reasonable adjustments you might need.
This then informs providers quickly and discreetly about the support you need, and may help you access concessions such as discounted ticket prices and complex reasonable adjustments, without requiring further disclosure of your personal details.
Some people like this system, others don’t - you send the company your ‘proof’ of disabilities or impairments, and they assess your requirements from those documents.
The card costs £15.00 and is valid for 3 years. It can be used in several different venues and attractions.
The use of the AXS system and the Nimbus card prevents customers who do not have access needs from purchasing access tickets.
When you go to the booking page and select to purchase accessible tickets, you will be prompted to input your first name, surname and Nimbus card number. Unless you input these details, you will be unable to see the accessible seating options or book any accessible seating.
When your details are submitted, you will see a map with the options suitable for you. The legend will be displayed at the bottom right-hand corner of the page, showing which options are selected from your Nimbus card symbols. You can then click on the map on screen to choose your preferred seats. Wheelchair and step-free seating options are available around the arena in row 1. Seating options for individuals with hearing or visual impairments will be displayed if you have the relevant symbols on your card.
The process is straightforward, and your tickets will be delivered to your inbox and the AXS app with a QR code to scan at the door.
Simple.
Unless you want to go with friends.
Then it gets tricky.
Via AXS, you can only purchase two tickets: one access ticket and one companion ticket. This is good - it protects the access seats from misuse, but on this occasion, we wanted to go with two friends, one of whom is another wheelchair user.
I sent an email to access@abbavoyage.com to inquire about booking for four of us. They said it wasn’t possible to do online, but it could be arranged with the access team. The snag? Both wheelchair users have to provide Nimbus card details, and only one of us had one. I asked if they would accept any other proof of disability - no, they won’t. If you don’t want to sign up for a Nimbus card, which costs £15 and is valid for 3 years, you can opt for a Digital Access Pass (DAP), which functions similarly to the Nimbus card but is only valid for bookings with a single venue. Charlie, my wheelchair-using friend who was coming to the show with us, had to sign up for a DAP, so I could pass the number on to the access team to make the booking.
Once the access team had the two Nimbus/DAP card numbers, they placed the order in the AXS system and sent me a personalised link to that booking. When I clicked the link, I was redirected to AXS, entered my login details, and the booking details came up on the screen. I could then make my payment online, as usual, and the booking was added to my AXS account, allowing me to download my tickets.
It’s frustrating if you want to book as a surprise, but I can understand why they do it and how it prevents misuse of the access ticketing system.
LOCATION AND GETTING THERE
The ABBA Arena is situated in the Stratford area of northeast London, near the London Stadium (formerly known as the Olympic Stadium). The area underwent considerable regeneration for the 2012 Olympic Games. Since then, the area has continued to grow.
With the stadium now home to West Ham United football club and the large Westfield shopping centre, there are good transport connections, lots of accommodation options and no shortage of places to eat and drink.
The arena is located away from the main shopping area and the significant train and tube stations.
You can walk or roll to the arena from Westfield Shopping Centre and past the London Stadium. The area around the shops and the Stadium is step-free and relatively flat, but there is a change in elevation as you approach the ABBA Arena. It takes around half an hour, but it’s a nice scenic route on a nice day.
Pudding Mill Lane DLR station is quite literally over the road from the arena, on the line between Stratford and Canary Wharf.
Most stations in the area offer step-free access, with some utilising ramps for boarding and alighting from trains.
The Elizabeth Line passes through Stratford station. These new accessible trains are spacious and cover a significant distance across London, extending to Reading, Heathrow Airport, Woolwich, and Romford.
The Central and Jubilee Underground lines also serve Stratford station.
Stratford International is a National Rail station with train services provided by Southeastern. The services run to and from various locations in Kent as well as St Pancras station in London.
Several TFL bus routes serve the area, running along High Street, just a couple of minutes from the arena.
If you prefer to drive to the arena, there is Blue Badge parking onsite. The car parking is staffed and behind a secure gate. Once I had arranged to book my tickets with the access team, I requested a Blue Badge parking space. My name was added to the parking list for the evening of the show, at no additional charge, and I was given a booking reference number. It was a matter of providing my name and showing a valid Blue Badge at the parking gate upon arrival.
The car parking opens at 6pm for evening shows and closes when the arena does, so you need to move your car as you leave the show.
GETTING IN
If you arrive before the arena doors are open, you’re covered.
The Box Office and gift shop are located at ground level below the DLR station. Outside the front of the arena, a small merchandise cart sells some of the smaller items from the gift shop.
There is also a cart utilised as a bar providing liquid refreshments.
There is ample seating, including some picnic tables with parasols.
We visited in June during a heatwave, so it was lovely to sit outside and make the most of the weather. The arena is fully air-conditioned, so it’s comfortable inside, whatever time of year you visit.
At other times of the year, you probably won’t want to sit outside for too long. There isn’t much shelter, but maybe that’s different at other times of the year? The evening shows begin at 7.45 pm with the arena doors opening at 6pm. It’s recommended that you arrive an hour before the performance starts to allow time for security checks and finding your seats.
The area around the arena features smooth, step-free tarmac, making it very easy to wheel around. The pathways are wide and unobstructed.
There are two entrances to the arena, and your tickets will indicate which entrance to use. There is an entrance at each side of the arena, so you will enter via the side of the arena where you’re seated.
Our tickets indicated Entrance A, as we had purchased tickets for the right-hand side of the arena.
Two members of our party were arriving by car and using the Blue Badge onsite parking. When we all met at the car park entrance, a member of staff offered to show us into the arena and took us to Entrance B, which was quiet at that time.
At the doors, there are tables for conducting security checks and a large number of staff members to ensure the process is quick. Once our bags had been checked, we proceeded to another member of staff, who scanned our tickets.
A member of the access team greeted us and checked where we were sitting. She explained that the doors into the performance space were not yet open. She showed us where the door to the performance space was and said she would meet us there at 6.45pm and get us in before the main rush. For now, we were free to move around the concourse area and get food and drinks.
I call it a concourse area as I don’t really know how else to describe it. You’re undercover, but the area isn’t fully enclosed. I suppose it’s a bit like a semi-circular gazebo with open doorways at the entrances. The roof is constructed from wood in geometric shapes with coloured neon lights illuminating it, and has wooden pillars to support it. Again, the flooring is smooth, and there are bars and food outlets around.
The area is quite spacious with a limited number of obstructions, including rubbish bins.
In the middle of the concourse is a wide entrance with two sets of double doors leading into the arena performance space. The doors are propped open once the performance space is open. There is signage on the wall indicating that no photography or filming is allowed in the auditorium, so I didn’t think we’d be able to document the seating and view. However, it was actually okay to take pictures before the show - I’ll explain more later!
The white flooring slopes upward and leads to a corridor with white walls, the ceiling again illuminated by neon lights. We were shown through the right-hand door, where the corridor turned around to the right. Further along, there was a door to the toilets on the right, before the corridor turned left. You now approach two sets of double doors, propped open, that lead into the performance space, with a metal handrail running along between them.
You are entering at the corner of the performance space, located between blocks C and D, with block E positioned further to the right.
Had you come in through the left-hand door from the concourse, your route would be mirrored, and you would enter between blocks B and C, with block A further around to the left.
The access staff showed us all the way around to our seats on block E.
FACILITIES
Facilities-wise, the arena had all bases covered.
The Box Office and gift shop are located below the Pudding Mill Lane DLR station, across the road from the arena itself.
The area around the outside of the arena has lots of seating, a small merchandise cart and a mobile bar.
On the concourse, there is another gift shop with a lowered counter and a merchandise desk. The desk has a relatively low counter and stocks a selection of items from the two larger outlets.
The bars have lowered sections at the ends, and the bar in the middle has a lowered section on one corner. There is no specified accessible lane or signage showing the lowered counter.
There are tap water dispensers.
The food counter is fairly low, with no specific lowered part.
There is a limited amount of seating around the concourse, with signage requesting that seating be offered to those who are less able to stand. There is also a limited number of surfaces available for placing food and drinks. There are no tables.
There are toilets, including an accessible toilet, at each end of the concourse. The accessible toilets don’t require a radar key and have the basic facilities needed.
Near the toilets, steps lead up to additional toilets, including accessible ones, which seemed odd. Those toilets are the ones you use during the show, so they are step-free from the performance space.
When you book, you also have the option of adding a premium Oceanbird Lounge package experience upgrade. There is an additional charge, but food and drinks are included in the price. Although the website doesn’t specifically state any access facilities, a quick online search suggests that the lounge is wheelchair accessible. The packages are approximately £100 per person, in addition to your regular ticket price.
SEATING
Our seats were in Row 1, seats 9, 10, 11, and 12 in Block E.
The row consists of sets of two padded, fold-down seats with armrests that feature integrated cup holders for drinks, as well as spaces between them for wheelchairs.
There is a good amount of legroom in front of the chairs and the pathway behind, between the chairs and the front row of stepped seating, is wide.
Seat numbers were displayed on the wall in front, so it’s easy to find where you need to be. The wall is low and divides you from the 3 rows of seats between you and the dancefloor. Those three rows are stepped down from the level you are on, and in turn, they are raised above the dancefloor.
No one in front of us stood up and danced during the show, so our view was unobstructed. If they had, they would have needed to be quite tall to block our view. If you want to dance, you are encouraged to purchase dancefloor tickets; however, you are permitted to stand in the seated areas, and the arena kindly asks that you be considerate of the people seated around you.
I was dubious as we entered the performance space about what our view would be like, given the proximity of our seats to the stage/screen. Obviously, I can’t say much about the show itself, but it’s common knowledge that the show uses holograms. I thought you might lose something by not viewing the stage/screen straight on, but it was absolutely fine. There is a large video screen on each side of the stage, like you would find at a regular concert, too. We also had a good view of many of the other people in the arena, appreciating how much fun everyone was having, singing, dancing, and creating a brilliant atmosphere. The seats in the extremities of Blocks A and E (seats 1-4) are a lot cheaper to buy, so there may possibly be a reduction in your view of the show.
Be aware, it’s loud in there! It is like a regular arena concert, with numerous lighting effects, flashing lights, and more. It was much more of a concert than a theatre show, so I think some people might be caught off guard by the volume and not having ear protection.
Overall, an excellent night out. We enjoyed it more as we were there with friends rather than just as a couple.
During the show, a strict no-filming and photography policy is in effect. And they police it! Throughout the show, several staff members are present in the performance space. They act as cheerleaders, encouraging dancing and audience participation, but they are super vigilant, watching for phones! Numerous people got a tap on the shoulder in the first few minutes of the show for filming. It maintains the air of mystery surrounding the show, but it’s also great to see everyone fully engaged with it.
GETTING BACK OUT
With just two entrances into the performance space, it’s a bit of a bottleneck getting out at the end. As people moved down from the stepped seating and up from the dance floor, the level we were on became very crowded near the entrances.
We just waited a few minutes before we headed back to the concourse. There were still a few people around, looking at the merchandise, finishing drinks and grabbing some food. You can pre-order pizzas to collect after the show, or just order from the bar on your way out.
There were queues at the toilets, but they soon cleared. Outside the arena, it had quietened down. The road was quiet for driving back out of the Blue Badge car park, and there were no queues at Pudding Mill station. The gift shop underneath the station was still open and quiet, so it was a good time to visit if you wanted a good look around.
Being a Friday night, Stratford station was bustling, so if you’re passing through there, you might find it tricky getting around, and the trains might be crowded. It’s also worth checking if there are other events on in the area at the same time, such as West Ham home games in the London Stadium or events at any of the London 2012 Olympic Games venues in the area.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
The venue is situated in an awkward location. Not the easiest to get to, and you need to plan in advance.
Booking is difficult if there are more than two of you. The access staff are very helpful at arranging the bookings for you, but you can only book with an Access/Nimbus card.
The arena is very accessible. New, purpose-built and spacious, it’s super easy to get around.
The helpful staff made the experience easy - they were there to help and show you around, but not in your face if you didn’t need any assistance.
