History of Science Museum

• There is no car parking at the museum
• There are four public Blue Badge parking spaces on Broad Street - all are less than 100 m from the museum

• The entrance is on Broad Street
• There is a paved path from the pavement leading to the external entrance gates. This path has a gentle slope up to the gates
• The entrance gates are held open during museum opening hours
• There are 2 steps up to a level landing just inside the gates - these steps have minimal contrasting markings and no handrails
• After the landing there is a fairly steep flight of stairs up to the entrance. These stairs have minimal contrasting markings. There are wide stone banister rails each side
• At the top of the stairs there is a level landing
• There is 1 final step up to the entrance lobby. This step has minimal contrasting markings and no handrails
• The outer entrance doors are held open during museum opening hours
• The inner doors are heavy to open. Staff are always available to assist with the doors during museum opening hours
• Once inside the museum, the welcome desk is straight ahead of you

• The welcome desk is just beyond the entrance doors and is in the central gallery
• There is stepped access only to the entrance and central gallery
• The desk is just ahead as you come through the entrance doors
• The desk is always staffed during museum opening hours
• The desk has 2 sections - 1 m high and 1.2 m high. There is no lower, wheelchair accessible section
• There are donation points either side of the desk which are 1m high
• There is no hearing support system at the desk
• The desk is in the middle of the central gallery. Beyond this gallery is the central staircase with access to the basement and upper galleries

• There are no public toilets in the museum
• There is 1 accessible toilet in the basement available on request. Please ask a member of staff if you wish to use this facility
• The accessible toilet is in the basement near the smaller gallery
• There is a small lobby between the gallery and the toilet with restricted manoeuvring space
• The door has a clear width of 80 cm and is an outward opening door
• The door is locked with a small twist lock
• The door does not have a horizontal pull bar on the inside
• The toilet dimensions are 1.8 m long by 1.5 m wide
• There is a pull cord light switch
• The toilet seat height is 45 cm
• The cistern can be used as a back rest
• There is a lever flush on the transfer side of the toilet
• Transfer space is to the left of the toilet
• There is a dropdown rail on the transfer side of toilet.
• There are wall mounted grab rails
• There is one vertical grab rail to the right of the sink
• There is poor visual contrast between the walls and the handrails and other fixtures
• There is a pull cord alarm which can be reached from the toilet. The reset button is out of reach from the toilet

July 2024: Lift out of service

The external platform lift is out of service for the foreseeable future. There is no step-free access to the museum at present. We apologise for any inconvenience.

• This section is about the internal stairs
• There is one central staircase in the museum
• From the central gallery there are 38 steps to the top of the building, and 38 steps to the bottom
• The staircase is very old and has wide wooden steps that are slightly uneven in places
• There are visually contrasting markings on the step edges
• There are handrails both sides of the stairs, including around the landings
• Lighting levels vary; the stairs have relatively low lighting at basement level, and are well lit at the upper level
• Lighting causes shadow on the stairs in some places

• The entrance doors are manual and heavy to use. Staff are always available to assist with the doors during museum opening hours
• All internal doors to the galleries are held open and have wide doorways
• There are manual entrance doors to the academic area at basement level. These doors are glass and have no visually contrasting markings
• There are manual doors to the seminar room, library and archive room in the academic area

• There are 3 floors with a gallery on each floor: Basement Gallery, Central Gallery and Top Gallery
• There is stepped access into the museum; you arrive at the Central Gallery
• After the Central Gallery there are stairs down to the Basement Gallery and up to the Top Gallery - you can choose which to visit first
• The galleries are large rooms with high ceilings. There is a plenty of space to move around
• There is some seating in the Top Gallery and Basement Gallery. There is no seating in the Central Gallery
• The Central Gallery and Top Gallery have large windows and a lot of natural light. Windows have blinds to prevent glare and protect the exhibits
• There is some glare and reflection on some of the display cases in the Central and Top Galleries, especially on very sunny days
• The Basement Gallery has no natural light. Lighting levels vary and there are some areas with low lighting
• Display cases vary in height. Objects are displayed at a range of heights between just above floor level to above head height
• There are a range of types of display cases - some are freestanding, some are placed against the wall, and some are table top cases
• No cases have knee recess for wheelchair access
• Text in display cases is in a variety of sizes and fonts - some of the text is very small
• Text is placed at a range of heights between just above floor level to above head height
• All of the newer displays in the Central Gallery have larger text
• The museum has also created many virtual versions of past exhibitions which can be viewed on the museum's website

• The gift shop is at one end of the Basement Gallery
• There is stepped access only to the basement level
• Lighting levels in the Basement Gallery vary and there are some areas with low lighting
• Items are displayed at a range of heights - most are between 75 cm and 120 cm above the floor
• The shop counter is 1 m high

• This area is separate to the rest of the museum and has its own entrance
• The library is open by appointment only. The library welcomes research enquiries for their collections of objects, photos, books and manuscripts. You can find out more on the museum's website
• The library and seminar room is at the basement level
• There is stepped access only to basement level. There are external stairs down to the basement either side of the stairs leading up to the main visitor entrance
• Stairs are stone, have minimal contrasting markings, and a wide stone bannister rail to one side only
• The doors into the library and seminar room are manual, glass, and have no contrasting markings
• Once inside there is a small corridor with the seminar room ahead of you, and the library to the right
• The library is a fairly small room with limited circulation space. There is a central table for visiting researchers to work at
• The seminar room has a table and chairs. There is no hearing support system