Accessibility Statement
We want to make sure that Belfast Pride provides a platform and a welcome for every part of Belfast’s LGBTQIA+ community including Deaf and Disabled people and anyone else who has a barrier to access. We are always working to make Belfast Pride as inclusive and accessible as it can be.
Belfast Pride does not organise all of the events during Belfast Pride Festival – we work with a range of community, venue and business partners who organise their own events and we list them in the Festival Guide as part of the overall festival programme. The event listings in the Official Belfast Pride Guide show who the organiser is for each event, the venue and how they rate accessibility themselves.
We have asked all venues holding events during Belfast Pride to provide us with information on their accessibility and the symbols we have used in the Guide tell you about what you can expect for each event. We print this information in the Official Belfast Pride Festival Guide so that people who need this information can have it in advance and to encourage venues to think about their accessibility.
At all of the main events run directly by Belfast Pride we commit to a high level of accessibility – there will be step free access, we will continue to provide accessible, gender neutral bathrooms and we will provide Sign Language interpreters where there is a presenter or entertainment and we will do anything else that we reasonably can or afford and if there is something else that you might need, then just let us know and we’ll do out best to sort it out.
The Official Belfast Pride Festival Guide
The Official Belfast Pride Guide is designed to be easy to read with a clear layout, less text in listings and a larger font size than before. The Guide will also be available in different versions including an audio version and a Word version.
Belfast Pride Office
Our office is at:
First Floor, 109 – 113 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1FF
This is on the lower part of Royal Avenue, walking away from City Hall and after Castle Court, where it turns at the Bank of Ireland towards Belfast Central Library. Other groups in the building include University of Atypical, who have a gallery on the ground floor, Culture Night, Belfast Interface Project, Ulster Youth Orchestra and Belfast International Arts Festival. The historic building, a former merchant bank was renovated with full accessibility in mind.
The building has step free access from the street with an internal ramp from the street to an internal glass door with a buzzer (Number 4) at an accessible level. We can assist with the door or buzz someone in – the door does not open automatically. There is a lift from the internal foyer to the first floor and step free access to all facilities on the floor with a ramp alongside two steps to the Training Room which is used for meetings, events and training including Parade Training.
The bathroom on the first floor is fully accessible with bars, an emergency cord and plenty of room to turn a chair. There are also accessible bathrooms on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors – all directly outside the lift, please use the lift to go any other floor.
Changing Places: the nearest Changing Places standard facilities are at:
• Castle Court (200m away)
• Victoria Square (500m away)
• Belfast City Hall (600m away)
There is ticketed on street car parking directly outside the building and on nearby Library Street and the nearest multi storey car parks are at Castle Court and St Anne’s Square. The building is on all Metro bus routes going North and the nearest railway station is Great Victoria Street / Europa Buscentre.
If you want to talk to someone about your access needs, just get in touch – we can arrange a chat by phone, Skype, Teams, Zoom, textphone online chat or whatever suits.
Party in the Square
We aim to make this centrepiece event more accessible and we will be introducing a number of changes to make it more accessible. The event has always met standard requirements for access, including bathrooms but we appreciate that the crowds at the event can be difficult to deal with so we are trying to help overcome this barrier and these changes include:
– an improved, dedicated viewing area on the raised area to the left of the square near the stage
– priority access lane to make it easier to get in to the Square, there will then be priority access to the viewing area
– the performances and speeches will be signed.
You can bring a Jam Card if you have one and if you want to use the Accessible Viewing, just say. We will also provide spaces for Guides, family members and carers.
Pride Village
This event is on the Donegall Quay / Big Fish site which has full step free access across the area that we will be using which will be from directly outside the Obel office building to area bordered by the Big Fish and platform it is on, this means level access to the stalls across the event.
This area offers and alternative to the Party on the Square at Custom House Square and is alcohol and smoke free.
Belfast Pride Parade 2022
The parade has been central to the festival since the first Belfast Pride festival. The parade route is 2.12km long and is entirely flat along the full route with no ramps or other impediments.
We partner with Translink to provide a Pride Bus – transport for those with mobility issues or disabilities who want to complete the parade route but cannot manage the full route. If you want to reserve a place, please email : pridebus@translink.co.uk
It will take about an hour and a half to complete the route and you will not be able to leave the bus during the parade except for a medical emergency, this is for crowd safety reasons.
The parade will be noisy and crowded and this may be an issue for people with sensory sensitivities and service animals. We don’t allow whistles, megaphones or other noise on the bus to reduce the noise as far as possible in the immediate area. There are many accessible toilets along the route in public buildings and shopping centres including Changing Places facilities at Victoria Square, Castle Court, Belfast City Hall and others.
If you have a question about accessibility that isn’t answered here then please contact us at:
Ring or leave a voicemail on:
02890232447