A Non-Relaxing Coffee Experience: How Caffé Nero Needs To Be More Accessible

Charlotte Croft, who was recently diagnosed with FND and uses a wheelchair, shares her experience of trying to access a Caffé Nero store in her hometown of Ipswich and the barriers she encountered when trying to get a coffee and find disabled toilets.

Coffee shops are supposed to be a place of relaxation and re-fueling. A chance to take a break from our busy lives and breathe for a while over a latte or an iced mocha. However, what used to be a quick pit stop on a rushed weekend now becomes an overwhelming, unjoyous task that’s almost impossible to navigate without assistance.

On this Saturday afternoon, I optimistically grabbed a wellbeing book and looked forward to a nice relaxing coffee, watching the world go by. However, even before ordering a coffee, I was faced with so many barriers it made the whole visit quite overwhelming, and certainly left me feeling frustrated.

My challenges accessing a Caffé Nero branch in my wheelchair

Firstly, I’m baffled by the idea that in the 21st century push/pull doors still exist and remain closed on a warm June day. I wish fully functional people could see this the way we do. The first barrier in a momentous exercise, trying to navigate pushing a door in a wheelchair. It’s literally impossible without assistance.

This particular door, leading into a Caffé Nero in Ipswich was super heavy and there was no one around to assist. Luckily a customer saw my struggle and rushed to assist me, seeing my huffing and puffing as I tried to wiggle myself closer, pushing the door whilst also trying to drag my wheelchair with me.

Despite the friendly staff, this particular Caffé Nero is actually not accessible for anyone in a wheelchair or even prams, since the ground floor is divided into two with two steps, leading from the seating area to the tills. Those two steps, as small as they may seem to functional individuals, act as barriers to those requiring aids.

There is actually another entrance on the other side, but this then means you need to decide between sitting in a seating area and not being able to order or sitting at the two small tables (both of which wobble so much my coffee has been spilt twice) near the tills, meaning you are segregated from those who can use steps.

Nevertheless, those two tables do provide at least a very small area for us to rest and drink our coffee. That is until another individual enters, through the same door, facing the same issues in a wheelchair. Now we face the dilemma of having to move around to squeeze into this small seating area, that really cannot accommodate any more than four people at best, which simply means if more than two wheelchair users are in the cafe at once, they cannot navigate such space and would need to be moved around or shoved in a corner.

However, eventually, I got my coffee, opened my book and began to relax. After about 15 minutes, I had finished my coffee and felt more relaxed. I was ready to pop to the toilet before continuing my trek around town.

Caffè Nero fails to provide accessible toilets

Well, this calmness I had equipped was very short-lived. I looked around, and very quickly knew we had an issue when I couldn’t find a disabled toilet. I wheeled over, asked the assistant to be told “No sorry we don’t.” And, to make matters worse, all the toilets were upstairs on the first floor.

I was totally shocked by this revelation and felt completely let down. I used to come to this café numerous times a week as it’s close to my work and a good location to sit and ponder.

Campaigning for better accessibility

Truthfully, before my disability I would never think too much about pushing doors, using steps and running upstairs to pop to the loo. However, now it’s a different story. I felt like an outsider, and quite frankly angry at the sheer lack of awareness this store seemed to have surrounding disabilities, and it’s left such a sour taste in my mouth.

It’s outrageous that we still face situations like this. Now I’m sat in the middle of a town having to question when and where my next loo break could be. This for me summed up the trip I had encountered, and I truly believe that Caffé Nero should be pushing to do more to ensure this store allows for equality for all customers. I truly hope changes are made, as without such, this store lacks any sense of accessibility.

Being a newly disabled individual, I feel more and more frustrated when I encounter events such as this, and I feel personally responsible for reaching out to such stores and begging for changes to be made.

After reaching out to Caffé Nero, they have since responded, acknowledging these issues and stating that the area manager has been made aware and that things will be implemented to solve these issues.

The Caffé Nero’s response is as follows:

“Many thanks for your patience while we have been following up on your concerns raised regarding our Buttermarket store.

“We take the welfare and safety of our customers as the utmost priority and we want everyone to leave our stores having enjoyed a positive experience in surroundings they feel comfortable in.

“Please be assured that as a business, we consider matters of this nature as extremely important and we have taken several steps over the years to ensure we can accommodate our customers without falling foul of unintentional discrimination.

This has included:

• a full survey of our estate to understand our customers’ requirements and identify stores that require reasonable changes
• implementation of available ramps and installation of notification bells at all stores where this is possible.
• a meeting with specialist lawyers on the Equality Act and what responsibilities it places on us as a business in regards to provision to our customers
• we are in the process of drafting up a full company document on the Equality Act and how our business should behave and respond towards such needs
• additional training to staff both at store and management level

“Our store here is within a very old building, and we have had a bell installed. Fitting the bell we hope will help with the support of the doors. Please know that we do have another store located about 5 mins away – the Ipswich Westgate store which has more seating on the ground floor and an accessible toilet.”

Well done Caffé Nero, however, it’s a shame this wasn’t done sooner. Whilst it was unfortunate such an event needed to take place, I highly commend the café’s efforts to make changes in such a short amount of time. I know I speak on behalf of a lot of people when I say that this will make such a big difference and will ensure people can access the store and continue to support Caffè Nero.

Have you experienced similar situations trying to access cafés, pubs, restaurants and other establishments? Let us know in the comments box, on social media or contact us to share your personal story.