Disability access information for sport and leisure facilities in Cambridge and the surrounding area.
Please scroll down the list of sport and leisure facilities below.
Kelsey Kerridge Sports Hall
- Address: Queen Anne Terrace, Cambridge, CB1 1NA
- Tel: 01223 462 226
- Website: www.kelseykerridge.co.uk
- General: ‘Outlooks’ gym with the usual selection of aerobics and weight machines.
Also has eight badminton courts in the main hall, an indoor climbing wall, three squash courts, sunbeds, and a gallery for cricket, archery and aerobics. Can arrange sporting parties for children, and there are regular classes in anything from circuit training to karate. Personal trainers and physiotherapy are also available - Cost: Without membership, a single session costs £6.70. Membership costs vary – around £50 a year for an adult, but there are discounts for families, juniors and students. Registered disabled, seniors, those on GP referral schemes and children under five get free membership. Members then pay an amount extra per session, which varies depending on who you are and what you want to do.
- Wheelchair Access: Enter either through the manual doors to the right of the Parkside Pools reception, or straight in from the car park. The reception is on the first floor. A long flight of marked steps with a contrasting handrail leads up to this, or you can press the button for the lift and wait for a member of staff to come down and fetch you – you can’t use the lift on your own as it is operated by a key. The lift is plenty large enough, and goes to all floors. The Outlooks gym is on the top floor, accessed via the lift and a ramp. It’s fairly cramped inside, though, and there isn’t much room to leave a wheelchair or mobility aid while on a machine. There are also no bars or grab rails to help you manoeuvre around or onto machines, and staff can only help if they have been trained to do so. Changing areas are communal, with benches but no rails or handrests. The showers in the changing rooms are large, but have no seats, and only one has a single grab rail. If you are there simply to watch others, be warned that there are no seats on the second floor viewing gallery, and only a few small chairs without armrests on the third floor. The balcony itself is also rather high to see over unless standing.
- Visual Impairments: Guide dogs might be a problem, so call in advance if you’re planning to take yours along. Lighting is fine in the gym and other areas, but the stairs are rather dimly lit, making the markings fairly hard to see. Signs are clear, and information leaflets can be printed out larger on request. There is no audio information in the lift
- Hearing Impairments: No induction loops installed anywhere. Fire alarms are sound only. Loud music and moving machinery make the gym really quite noisy
- Disabled toilets: There are accessible toilets on the first and top floors, and you can potentially change in one of these instead of using the changing rooms
- Parking: Queen Anne multi-storey next door, (disabled bays on ground floor) or space for drop off/pick up directly outside
Parkside Pools
- Address: Gonville Place, Cambridge, CB1 1LY
- Tel: 01223 446 104
- Website: www.slm-leisure.co.uk
- General: Built 5 years ago, Parkside Pools is pretty good by public swimming pool standards, and also by DDA standards. It’s friendly, fairly clean, and basic, with a 25m pool and a smaller ?m pool with moveable floor. It also has a toddler pool, two flumes, and three diving boards. In the health suite you can relax in the jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, samarium and lounge chairs, and enjoy a range of treatments. Swimming lessons available. There’s a good accessible café serving drinks, snacks and light lunches. No smoking throughout. Wheels on Water, Cambridge’s disabled swimming group, meets 2-4 Thursday for swimming – enquire at reception for more information
- Cost: If you don’t live in Cambridge, you must pay full adult price (currently £3.40 for a swim and £7.25 for a session in the health suite), but a carer goes free. Registered disabled people in Cambridge can get Leisure Card A, which entitles you to cheaper entry whenever you go – currently £1.70 for a swim or £3.65 for the health suite
- Wheelchair Access: Automatic doors at entrance, a lowered reception desk and plenty of space. There is open access to the pool from the changing rooms (or via a lift if you’ve changed in the health suite). Disabled changing rooms, with alarm cords installed. Disabled seating and room for wheelchairs in gallery. Hoists are available to help get into the smaller swimming pool and Jacuzzi – best to call and book in advance. Bath chairs are also available. The smaller pool has a moveable floor, so you can walk or be wheeled in before the floor is lowered. Lift to health suite on second floor. The health suite is supposedly fully accessible, with disabled changing room, but it’s definitely best to call in advance and take a friend. Non-slip mats cover some parts but not others, and the floor can get quite slippery. The alarms in the steam room and sauna are very high up (too high for a chair, definitely too high if you’re lying on the floor), and it’s easy to slip in the wet and steamy environment. There are also no armrests or grab rails in the steam room/sauna, and the lounge chairs are all low and long
- Visual Impairments: Braille signs in some places, currently being updated. Guide dogs allowed. Sound alarms
- Hearing Impairments: Loops system currently being installed throughout building. Fire alarm will sound in hearing aids. Flashing light alarm in pool also
- Disabled toilets: Disabled toilet near café, operated by radar key
- Parking: Queen Anne multi-storey next door (disabled bays on ground floor), or space for drop off/pick up directly outside