Arriving at the Museum and Gallery
Train
The nearest railway station is Bangor located on Holyhead Road, (LL57 1LZ) which is approximately a 10 minute walk away. Taxis are normally available at the station. There is an NCP car park located at the Station. For further station information about the station, follow this link.
Bus
The nearest bus stop is located on Ffordd Gwynedd, c.200 metres away from our main entrance. For online information for public transport, follow this link.
Disabled parking
There are two disabled parking bays located outside our main entrance. There is a distance of c.25 metres to our main entrance.
Car
The museum and gallery does not have ANY dedicated public parking. There are a number of public car parks nearby. They include;
Deiniol Shopping Centre Multi-Storey Car Park (located 200m from our main entrance). This has 120 spaces, 7 disabled spaces.
Gwynedd Council Car Park Pay and Display (called Canondy) located between the library and the museum on Ffordd Gwynedd. 38 Spaces, 2 disabled spaces. Short term. Open 24hours but there is a height restriction. Here is a link to other Gwynedd Council run car parks within Bangor;
Here is a link to all car parks in Bangor;
Bikes
We are located just off the Lon Las Menai cycle route. We have four dedicated bike rails that can accommodate up to 8 bikes. They are located close to the main entrance. We cannot guarantee the security of the bike while on our premises.
Access Statement
“The access statement does not contain personal opinions regarding our suitability for those with disabilities but aims to describe the facilities and services we offer for all our visitors.”
Entrance
The main entrance to the museum is approached from Ffordd Gwynedd on a level path composed of slabs with occasional inserts of river washed cobbles. Access to the museum door is possible following a more circular path from the nearby parking bay to the front door. The front double doors to a small vestibule are normally fixed open during opening hours of 11 to 5, and the width is 130 cms. There is a second double glazed door which opens automatically. The width of the double automatic doors when open is 120 cms.
Signage
We have tried to sign post throughout the building with vinyl lettering. If there is any signage that is unclear or confusing, we would welcome feedback.
Reception
This door opens to our main reception, which is well-lit, with a reception desk facing you as you enter. The shop is located to the left of our reception desk, with double doors to the café from here. The stairs leads to the main art galleries and museum spaces. From the reception, we have a unisex WC toilet facility which is DDA compliant, with a baby changer. At the bottom of the stairwell, we have a free standing hook for hanging coats and umbrellas. In the reception area there is also a donation box and tourism information leaflets relating to Bangor and the immediate vicinity. The reception desk is staffed during opening hours and is located less than 3m away from the internal entrance door. The reception desk has been designed to accommodate the needs of different users and has two heights, at 112cm high and 78cms high. There is a portable induction loop located at the reception desk. A hearing induction loop for use in the main gallery or meeting rooms can be made available on request.
Shop
The floor of the shop is on the ground level. High display shelves may not be accessed from a seated position. Items are displayed on free standing units as well as on shelves and units and display cases around the perimeter of the space. Staff are available to provide assistance. There is room to manoeuvre a pram or a wheelchair around the units.
Café
The café is located from the shop, through double doors located to the left of the reception desk. One single door is 100 cms. There are 28 covers within the café, with additional seating outside during summer months. All the tables have legs at each corner and a percentage of the chairs outside have arms. If you have particular dietary needs, please ask staff at the café.
Toilet facilities
Ground floor
There are three unisex WC located on the ground floor, two of which are wheelchair accessible. All have a non-slip floor covering.
WC1
The largest WC is located at the bottom of the main stairs and is accessible through the double doors from the main reception. The door is 90 cms wide. It measures 270 cms by 210 cms and comprises toilet, wash hand basin, hot water provider, soap dispenser, bin, sanitary bin and nappy bin and baby changing table. The toilet roll dispenser is placed 88 cms from floor level. There is short handrail fixed to the wall, and an emergency alarm pull cord installed.
WC2 and WC3 are located down a corridor to the right of the main entrance.
WC2
WC2 is a wheelchair accessible and is installed with handrails, pull cord alarm, hand basin, hand dryer, bin, nappy bin and baby changing pullout. Door is 93 cms wide and toilet roll is at 91 cms high.
WC3
WC3 has toilet cistern, sink, hand basin, hand dryer and bin. Door is 90 cms wide.
First floor facilities
There are two unisex toilets with non-slip vinyl flooring located at the top of the main stairs landing. Both have a toilet cistern and toilet roll holder, wash hand basin, hot water provider, hand dryer and bin. The door opening is only 87 cms wide.
Flooring
The flooring of the main galleries and circulation spaces are engineered oak planks. The main stairs and landing and WC’s are a non-slip vinyl flooring. Where there are height changes between rooms, there are small ramps and handrails. Very small changes in height between rooms are marked by door treads.
Displays
The displays in the gallery feature either 2D or 3D works and all work is captioned with text size 14. 2D works are normally hung to a centre height of 143 cms to ensure as visibly accessible to users as possible.
Accessing the first floor
Lifts
The closest lift to the main entrance is that to the right of the front door. It provides access to the first museum exhibition space. The width of the lift door is 90 cms wide.
There is a second lift at the rear of the building which allows visitors to move from the 2nd to the 3rd and final museum exhibition space so as to following a similar flow as visitors who choose to use the stairs. Door to second lift is 96cm wide.
Stairs
The art galleries and the museum is accessed on the first floor. The main stairs is a wooden painted side and handrail, is Grade II listed and dates to c.1753. There is a handrail as part of the original staircase design but we have not been able to fit an easier to use handrail to both sides of the stairs. There are a number of stairs to access the first floor – the first flight of 4 stairs comes onto a landing, then there is a 90 degree turn followed by another 11 stairs, a small landing with another 90 degree turn and a final flight of 4 steps before reaching the first floor. All the galleries are accessible from the top landing – the art galleries through the double doors ahead and the museum galleries through a smaller access on the left.
The displays in the museum spaces on the first and ground floors are a combination of works within glass or perspex display cases, open display (such as the furniture), and panels with a combination of bilingual (Welsh and English) text and images. We try to ensure text on these wall panels is at least size 16 with smaller captions at size 14. A large print copy of wall display texts can be made available on request. AV points with further interactive information about the objects will be available shortly.
There are friendly volunteers in the museum and art gallery exhibition spaces who would be pleased to provide assistance and additional information.
We do not currently offer an audio trail.
Pre-arranged tours for groups, schools, colleges with specific needs can be booked.
Lighting
The reception and shop are well and evenly lit. The gallery is normally well and evenly lit except on occasion when light levels need to be lowered for conservation needs of specific art works. The stairs to the museum are well lit but some rooms in the museum displays have low light levels, due to the conservation needs of more vulnerable museum objects.
Additional information
All staff receive training that includes disability awareness and customer care, including World Host Award.
Assistance dogs are welcome inside the museum and gallery. Non-assistance dogs are not.
We welcome suggestions on improving our service through comments books, phone, email etc.