That's just the brief details - scroll down for the full review!
The O2 arena is probably one of the best-known event locations in the UK due to its location and high-profile sponsorship, but is it all it’s cracked up to be? And as a relatively new venue, does it tick all the boxes for access needs?
BOOKING
Accessible bookings for the O2 are made online using AXS. What makes this venue different from some others who book through AXS is that you 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 gain you access to things like concessionary ticket prices and complex reasonable adjustments without having to go further into 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 and the card can be used in several different venues and attractions. You can also apply for free registration for the scheme which will permit your account to be recognised on AXS.com for shows in The O2 arena only.
The AXS booking system works slightly differently here to other venues - when you click to select ‘Accessible Tickets’ you will be prompted to input your name and your Nimbus card number. This will then show you all (if any) available seating for your requirements. You then need to check the options showing and there is no way to filter to wheelchair only or hearing impaired, for example. There is no requirement to be a wheelchair user to buy a ticket for the step-free wheelchair platforms even though these are the only spaces accessible to wheelchair users! Wheelchair users cannot use other step-free seating and remain in their chairs. With many other AXS venues, you can select ‘ Wheelchair Tickets’ or ‘Ambulant Tickets’ and be shown the relevant options. There is information on the website explaining where the access seating is, but you need to be familiar with the information before you book.
When booking tickets as a Nimbus card holder, you are unable to book general admission tickets in the same transaction - if you want to take other people with you, you will have to make a separate booking through the general sales page.
If you require more than one companion ticket, you will need to speak to the venue.
Although the use of the AXS system and the Nimbus card prevents customers who do not have access needs from buying access tickets, it isn’t a simple system to use and it is easy to click the wrong tickets!
Your tickets will be delivered to your O2 Arena app (NOT PRIORITY APP!) or the AXS app (both, if you have them!)
I'll be quite honest now - when I made the booking to see Pitbull, I was laid on a sun lounger in Tenerife. The event was announced while we were on holiday with tickets going on sale a couple of days later. I hadn't taken my Access card abroad with me (no point!) so I couldn't book online and I was desperate to get tickets. I took a punt and phoned the accessible booking team at the time the tickets went on sale, explained the situation to them and they helped me book over the telephone. They were extremely helpful and, needless to say, I now keep a picture of my Access card on my phone just in case!
LOCATION AND GETTING THERE
The O2 arena, formerly known as the Millennium Dome, is situated to the East of London in Greenwich, close to London City Airport and the business district of Canary Wharf and away from many of the popular tourist landmarks of the city.
Due to its location, the arena is only served by a single London Underground line, the Jubilee Line, running between Stratford and Stanmore, passing through Wembley Park, Baker Street, Westminster, Waterloo, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, and Canning Town. Most of the stops on the line are accessible too.
There is no direct route to the arena from either London City or Heathrow airports or most of the main rail stations in London including Kings Cross, St Pancras, Euston, Liverpool Street, and Paddington - you will need to make at least 1 change.
You can find lots of information about access to the TFL system online.
You can also get to the O2 via iconic red London buses or by boat on the river Thames.
There is a large taxi rank at North Greenwich station and a free drop-off point in Car Park 1.
If you drive and want to park your car, for arena events, you need to use Car Park 1, but please check about tariffs and pre-booking on the website.
Or if you fancy something a bit different, you can use the IFS Cloud Cable Car from the London ExCel centre!
Accommodation close to the arena is limited and expensive so you might find it more cost-effective to book a hotel a short journey away and travel in for the event.
When we go to London by train, we travel by LNER on the East Coast Main Line into King’s Cross. We’ve found our best option for the O2 is to travel by red bus route 63 to Southwark station (around 30 minutes), stay in one of the hotels nearby, and then use the Underground to North Greenwich (10 minutes on the tubes, 20 minutes if you include moving through both stations). The buses are great for wheelchairs and both Southwark and North Greenwich stations are step-free. We might also consider Waterloo station in the future as it's a very short distance from Southwark (as we found out when the station was closed on our way back!)
The TFL website has handy tools to help you plan your journey.
North Greenwich station has loads of clear signage to navigate your way through to where you need to be. Likewise, once you're out into Peninsula Square, there are lots of information posts dotted around.
GETTING IN
The beauty of the O2 is that it is in the heart of, simply put, a shopping centre (see ‘Facilities’, below). The entire Dome is open every day, functioning as a shopping outlet with all of its eateries and bars. The arena itself is secure from the rest of the building. This means, you can arrive at the arena whenever you want, and you can stay inside where it is warm, sheltered, and dry, and have a bite to eat. No hanging around outside, in the middle of nowhere. No sitting in the car, watching the clock tick while you wait for the doors to open. You can get there early, do your shopping in the merch outlet, and feel relaxed before the doors open and you head to security. There are also accessible toilets you can use when you arrive, so in all, it's a much less regimental entry process than some arenas.
The main entrance into the Dome is on the Southeast side of the building, close to the TFL station and car parks. The area is all well signposted so you can’t really go wrong. Once you are inside the main doors, the accessible entrance is directly in front of you.
You’ll need to open your tickets on either the AXS app or the O2 arena app (not the Priority app). You can’t save them to your Google Wallet or Apple Pay, they must be shown on the phone screen in the app as they have dynamic codes that refresh after a set amount of time,
Your tickets will show you need Entrance B, which is the entire set of glass doors. There are lots of lanes so queues don’t get too bad, but I’d recommend you stay on the left-hand side and it’s nearer the lift and avoids people heading to the escalators. Each lane has a member of staff to scan your tickets then the high-tech security scanners mean you can just pass straight through without having to empty your pockets. If you have a small bag with you, you will get it searched but there are clear notices about what you can’t take with you so you can be prepared. Food and drink are not permitted to be taken into the arena, however, if you have medical requirements for specific food or medicines, you can complete a form online to permit you to bring the necessary items in with you. Free tap water is also available in the arena.
Once you’re through the security check, keep to your left and head around to the lift. A member of staff will be in the left to help you find the correct floor, but if you are entering before the main arena doors are opened, you can only access the Level 1 concourse until the arena doors are opened. Once you leave the lift, there are lots of signs indicating the individual block numbers to help you find your seat.
A piece of advice - consider what time you enter the arena. For this event, the door time was 6.30 pm but the concourse was open from 5.30 pm. We went in at 6.15 pm and the concourse was chaos! There was nowhere to sit on the concourse, so people were sitting on the floor so there were lots of legs to navigate around. The main issue is, that before the arena bowl doors are opened, standing ticket holders are queued up at doors on both sides of the arena. The rows snake up and down the concourse, add to that the queues for food and drinks and it’s so difficult to get around. Once the bowl doors were opened, the queues went down very quickly and the concourse soon cleared out.
FACILITIES
The arena itself is only a portion of the ‘Dome’ itself. You can choose from 30 bars & restaurants, and 60 designer brands at Outlet Shopping at The O2, plus interactive football, indoor trampolining, bowling, mini-golf, padel, Mamma Mia: The Party, indoor skydiving, and more. You can also climb up and over the Dome if you fancy it! Catch a movie at Cineworld?
There are multiple toilet blocks and lift access to both levels. With the outlet shopping area being open 10 am-8 pm every day, you’ll have access to toilets, food, drink, and shelter at whatever time you arrive for an event.
There is an O2 bag storage point if you have any baggage above the allowance for the arena (bags larger than A4 etc.) which is chargeable at £10 per bag. If you are an American Express customer, there is a free bag drop-off point for you to use and also an Outlet Shopping bag drop, free of charge but for outlet shopping items only. Full details are on the O2 website.
There are lots of members of staff on hand if you need any help.
The number of merch outlets can vary from event to event. The main ‘shop’ is at the lefthand side of the main entrance as you approach the arena. It’s got pink neon lights, next to the box office, so you can’t miss it. At the front of the shop, there is a barrier queuing system allowing a limited number of people into the shop at any one time. However, as an access customer, as you make your way towards the shop, staff are on hand to which you away, through the main doors of the Dome, around to the left, and into the exit door of the shop. You can then scan around the shop, decide what you want, and make your purchases in comfort. The counters are low with acrylic panels displaying items and the t-shirts, hoodies and such are all displayed on the wall. Staff are happy to show you items on request. Being served at this side of the shop means you are away from the main queue, in no one's way, and not feeling rushed.
For some events, you will also find a large merch ‘truck’ outside, to the righthand side of the main doors but this has a high counter and isn’t suitable for access customers.
Up on level 1, you’ll find another merch desk with low acrylic counters outside Block 109.
There are signs down on the floor advertising merchandise at floor level, and an additional one on Level 4 - I’ve not visited either of these.
Merchandise stores open a few hours before the time shown on your ticket (door time), and are available after the show.
There is also an additional store in the Outlet Shopping mall with a small selection of the merch for that day’s events plus a selection of merch from previous events and pop culture items.
Inside the arena, there are several accessible toilets situated with each toilet block on the concourses. They are not radar-keyed nor are there any members of staff situated outside the toilets so they do tend to get abused when there are long queues. When visibly disabled people are queuing and 4 drunken ladies stumble out of an accessible toilet, the optics aren’t good!
There is also a Changing Place on Level 1.
Most of the food and drink outlets have a lowered counter, marked with a wheelchair logo to make them easily visible. Food and drinks are very expensive but there is free tap water available. The O2 website states free water is available at all food and drink outlets.
On a previous visit, we were given tap water at the bar, but for this visit, we were given an empty cup and told to use the water dispensers. We found one dispenser next to the Customer Services desk on Level 1 but didn’t find any others.
There are portable phone chargers for hire on the concourse.
All cups are reusable and there are various recycling and rubbish bins dotted around on the concourse.
Each seating block has the number clearly displayed with blue neon lights so you can find where you need to be. Each block also has a member of staff near the door to help find your seat or offer any other help you might need.
Large doors from the concourse into the arena bowl are propped open before and after the show and during the intervals so you can get in and out easily.
SEATING
Seating in the arena is comfy, padded seats - not too posh - with integrated cup holders in the armrests. On the wheelchair platforms, the companion seats are fold-up seats but, again, padded and comfortable with armrests but no cup holders.
As I mentioned in the ‘Booking’ section, there are lots of different options for accessible seating but a very limited number for wheelchairs, I think around 50 in 6 wheelchair platform areas. That equates to 0.25% of the venue capacity, or 1 wheelchair in every 400 tickets if they are all sold to wheelchair users.
Unfortunately, although there are other step-free options for access customers or those who wish to transfer from their wheelchair, there are no restrictions as to who can book on a wheelchair platform so spaces can become very limited. Using your access cards makes all accessible seating available to book and does not narrow the options down to what is relevant to your individual needs.
The wheelchair platforms are a good height above the row of seating in front so your view is not obstructed if the people stand up.
You should also note, when you book thew platforms, you will be given seat numbers. The platforms themselves don’t actually have numbers. Staff will allocate your position on a first come first served basis, starting at one end and positioning each customer with the space they need
GETTING BACK OUT
The arena empties quite quickly. There are multiple exits and staff on hand to keep the crowd moving. The wait for the lifts is quite lengthy as the two lifts serve all floors and hospitality suites so be prepared to queue. Although there are escalators, a lot of people choose to use the lifts and there are no staff members in the lifts after the event to prioritise users.
Once you get outside, there are people moving in different directions for car parks but the majority are heading towards the station for the underground, buses, and taxis. Staff with megaphones direct the crowd to keep you to the right-hand side if you're heading to the station. The area where you queue has a cover above to protect you if it’s wet. For access customers, head towards the station but keep along the side of the queue. Head straight for the station door and a member of the security staff will let you through the barriers to join the queue there.
People management inside the station could do with some improvements. It gets very crowded and people don't tend to see you at a lower level so you're at risk of people bumping into you, stumbling over you, elbows in the face, and such. Also, you can't see where you're going which makes navigating tricky.
As we entered the station building, the right-hand side was fenced off with the entire queue snaking around to the left all the way around to the escalators. This is where we found the major flaw - the lift is in the middle of the building. So we had to get from where we joined at the left-hand side of the queue right across to the right-hand side then follow all the way around to the lift, which has its pathway accessed near to the top of the escalators! If we hadn't stayed towards the right, we wouldn't have realised that the part of the fencing nearest to the lift could be moved for access customers to cut through. That saved us a lot of time and risk of getting hurt.
Once we were down in the lift, we were into the ticket hall. It was still busy but not as crowded as the escalators thin the crowd out a little. The ticket gates were open but it was really difficult to see where the wider gates were. As a rule, they tend to be the outer gates of each set so we stayed towards the side and as we got closer to the gates, people strapped aside and let us through.
Another lift down the platforms then just follow the markings on the platform for wheelchair access
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
Local facilities are great. The fact you can spend a few hours eating, drinking and shopping before the show and knowing you don’t have to queue outside is a bonus.
The venue overall is good, with a good atmosphere, as is the booking system. All seating has good views of the show with no obstructions.
0.25% of seating available to wheelchair users is low. It would be good to see specific areas for wheelchair users only who can’t access other accessible seating in the arena.
The accessible toilets don’t have radar keys so available to anyone who needs them but leaves them open to abuse
The station could do with better management after an event. If the righthand side was used for the masses and the lefthand side taped off to give easy access to the lift, it would make a huge difference. The fact you can jump the queue is great but you’re still in the jam inside the station building.
The location isn’t ideal with limited transport options, depending on where you’re travelling from but if you plan, you can manage.
Parking is expensive if you want to come in your car.
Decent sound quality and a good overall experience, just very expensive for refreshments (unless you want tap water!)
