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Buildings

6.16 Bars, cafes and restaurants

Contents

• Bars, cafes and restaurants

Bars, cafes and restaurants

Reference should also be made to Fact Sheet 6.1 External Access Routes for Buildings, 6.3 Steps and stairs, 6.5
Doors and entrances and 6.9 Toilets.

Access should be available to the full range of services. Where premises contain both self-service and waiter service, access should be provided to both.

All areas and seating should be accessible to ambulant disabled people.

All bars and self-service counters should be accessible to wheelchair users (see 6.12 Counters). The customer should be able to reach and move along the full length of all counters. Points of vital customer contact may require induction loops if the environment is noisy, the counter is wide or the lighting is subdued.

Changes in floor level can be incorporated, in keeping with a design theme, but:

• at least half the area where seating is provided should be accessible to wheelchair users who should be able to choose whether to join other customers at a table
  
• where the nature of the service varies and the facility is divided into areas, in the same or different storeys, at least half of each area should be accessible to wheelchair users.
  

Care should be taken with the choice of tables to ensue table legs do not limit use by disabled customers. Pedestal tables, for example, can provide more wheelchair manoeuvring space than small corner-legged
tables.

Tables accessible to wheelchair users should have a maximum height of 850mm. The space beneath each table for "leg room" should be at least 500mm deep, 600mm wide and 750mm high, measured from the finished floor level. Furniture and fittings should have beneath their most protruding point a toe clearance space of at least 230mm in length, to enable wheelchair users to turn more easily.

Chairs and tables should have rounded edges. Some chairs should be movable, to provide access to a table for wheelchair users or people with stiff joints.

Aisles and gangways should be at least 1300mm wide to allow passage for wheelchairs and assistance dogs.

Furniture, trays and crockery should be in colours which contrast with their surroundings.

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