Accessibility

Craven Museum wins Family Friendly Museum Award 2023

We are truly honoured to have been named the best heritage site in the country for families, as well as winning the category of ‘Best Accessible Museum‘.

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Craven Museum access provision placed in top three venues nationally.

We are extremely proud that Craven Museum & Gallery placed third in the Heritage Access 22 Report benchmark out of 2,258 UK museums and heritage sites covered by the project, after the Science Museum and Hampton Court Palace.

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Side Entrance

The side entrance (Jerry Croft) has ramped access through power-assisted doors where you are able to access the Concert Hall, Visitor Centre, Museum, Exhibition Gallery and The Hub, across two floors.

Rear Entrance

The rear of the building (Museum Walk) has level access via the Stage Door where you are able to access the Education Room, Changing Places Toilet and lift to the First Floor where the Performers Changing Rooms and Museum Research Room can be accessed.

Front Entrance

The front entrance of the building (High Street) has access via five steps with handrails.

Visitor Centre Desk

We have a low level counter at our Visitor Centre Desk. Our friendly staff are happy to give you any information or assistance required.

Concert Hall

Our Concert Hall is a flexible space and the position of wheelchair spaces changes, depending on the demands of the event taking place. We offer a number of wheelchair spaces within the seated area at performances in the Concert Hall.

Main Toilets

The main toilets are on the ground floor to the right hand side of the Visitor Centre Desk.

Accessible Toilets

There are two accessible toilets throughout the building, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor.  All accessible toilets have a functional emergency alarm and wall mounted rails.

Changing Places Toilet

There is a Changing Places toilet that is located next to the rear Stage Door entrance on the ground floor.

The facility has a height adjustable adult sized changing bench, a tracking hoist system and adequate space in the changing area for the person with additional needs and up to two carers.

Please ask a member of staff if you would like to access the Changing Places toilet.

Please note the hoist in the Changing Places Toilet is awaiting maintenance and is not in use. We are striving to have it back in use as soon as possible.

Baby Changing

There are baby changing facilities in the women’s toilet in the reception area. There are unisex baby changing facilities located next to the rear Stage Door entrance on the ground floor. Please ask a member of staff for access.

Seating

There are a number of portable stools available for use in the building, located to the left of the Museum entrance and to the right of the Emergency Exit inside the Museum. Please ask a member of staff for assistance if needed.

There are fixed benches in the Visitor Centre, to the left of the Museum entrance.

Lifts

We have lifts providing access to all floors of our venue. There are two lifts located in the building. The first is a platform lift located to the right of the Museum entrance, in the Visitor Centre. This enables access to the Exhibition Gallery located on the First Floor.

The second lift is located close to the rear Stage Door entrance to the building. This enables access to Stage Level in the Concert Hall and facilities on the First Floor, such as Changing Rooms for performers. The external call buttons are at an accessible height for wheelchair users.

We are an Autism friendly venue.

If you would like to wear hooded tops, baseball caps, gloves, dark glasses and/or noise cancelling headphones when you come to visit us, that’s fine with us.

We can organise to make quiet space available with any of the following: floor mats, bean bags, pillow, fidget spinners, stress balls, noise cancelling headphones and weighted blankets. Just tell us what you need.

If you can give us advance notice of your visit that would help us a lot, but if you can’t we will try our very best to accomodate your needs. Please let us know if there is anything else we can help with on your visit.

Relaxed Sessions & Performances

Join us for a relaxed session in Craven Museum on the first Monday of each month. Relaxed sessions run 9.30 -10.30am & 3.30 – 4.30pm

Relaxed sessions are aimed at people with additional sensory needs and anyone else who may benefit. Sessions are available to individuals, groups and families to make visiting the museum more accessible.

During relaxed museum sessions –

• Light levels will be raised.
• Sound levels will be reduced.
• Visitors can make as much noise as they like.
• Ear defenders are available.
• Quiet Spaces are available
• Object handling sessions are running.

If you have any specific access requirements you would like to discuss in advance of your visit please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Have a look at our What’s On page for upcoming Relaxed Performances. They include a monthly Parent & Baby Film Club.

What’s On

Safe Space Alliance

What is the Safe Space Alliance?

The Safe Space Alliance is a LGBTQI+ led nonprofit organisation that aims to help people identify, navigate, and create safe spaces for LGBTQI+ communities worldwide. Being part of the Safe Space Alliance is being part of a global and collaborative safe space community.

What is a safe space?

A safe space is a space where LGBTQI+ communities can freely express themselves without fear. It is a space that does not tolerate violence, bullying, or hate speech towards LGBTQI+ communities.

A safe space does not guarantee 100% safety, rather, it’s a space that has your back if an incident (violence, bullying, or hate speech) were to occur.

Skipton Town Hall is a safe space.

North Yorkshire Safe Places

A safe place is where anyone who might need a little more help and support when they are out and about in the community can call in to get assistance.

Breastfeeding Safe Space

 North Yorkshire Breastfeeding Friendly Venue Award

• Our staff will accommodate and welcome breastfeeding in all customer areas of our venue
• We will provide breastfeeding people with a comfy chair, access to free drinking water and handwashing facilities
• Whenever possible, at request, we will provide a breastfeeding person with a private space
• In case of a customer complaint, we will discreetly ask the complaining customer to move, not the person breastfeeding

Read our full breastfeeding policy here –

Breastfeeding Policy

Kids in Museums Manifesto

We are signed up to the Kids in Museums Manifestio and follow these values in everything we do for families.

• Be welcoming
• Be accessible to all
• Make it easy and comfortable
• Remember families come in all shapes and sizes
• Communicate well
• Be an active part of your community

Visit the Kids in Museums Website