Access Information

There is a level access entrance to the Museum on Burdon Road. 

A set of automatic doors leads to the front desk and shop area. The Museum’s galleries and displays are then accessed up a wider corridor which has a shallow incline. 

There are lifts and stairs providing access to all floors and the Winter Gardens Treetop Walk. 

The lifts have tactile buttons. 

All floors have level access. 

There are power assisted doors to the main areas of the Museum, these are operated by push pads.

We welcome guide dogs and assistance dogs in our venue. We can also provide water for your dog upon request. 

There are audio points in the Sunderland Pottery gallery and 20th Century Sunderland gallery. 

There are 6 accessible toilet facilities at the Museum. 

• • Ground floor: one male accessible toilet, one female accessible toilet and one unisex family toilet with accessible baby changing facilities. 
  • First floor: one unisex accessible toilet 
  • Second floor: one unisex accessible closomat toilet 
  • Third floor: one unisex accessible toilet 

There are two standard toilet facilities at the Museum. 

• • Ground floor: Male toilets with two cubicles, female toilets with four cubicles

The learning rooms on the ground floor have male and female accessible toilets. These facilities are only available to groups using the learning rooms. 

There are seating places throughout the Museum where visitors can rest. 

Lightweight foldable chairs are available for visitors with mobility issues in the Art and Special Exhibition Galleries. 

We have a manual wheelchair available for use by visitors. This can be pre-booked in advance of the day of your visit. There is no charge for this service. 

The fire alarms in the building give an audible tone and visual flashing light warning.  

The lifts cannot be used in the event of a fire. There are evac-chairs to assist people to exit the building and safe fire refuge points to await evacuation. 

If you are likely to need assistance to exit the building in the event of a fire alarm, please tell a member of staff on your arrival. 

There are various interactive elements in all galleries including films and tactile objects. These include: 

 Ground Floor: 

• • Sunderland Pottery – an audio track describes the conditions of the pottery workers in Victorian times 

• • Coal – a subtitled film drama describing the life of children working in the mines during Victorian times 

 First Floor 

• • 20th Century Sunderland – four subtitled videos describe the lives of four women in Sunderland at different times during the 20th Century 

• • Lost Worlds – several fossils are on open display and can be handled 

• • Worlds Alive – there are buttons throughout the exhibition. Pressing these buttons will turn on lights and animal sounds 

Second Floor 

• • Art Gallery – There is a tactile version of the oil painting Dockside, Sunderland by L.S Lowry 

Third Floor 

• • Launched on Wearside – two model ship hulls have Braille labels 

We make every attempt to make our venues as accessible as possible. However, there are some aspects of the building and our exhibitions which make it difficult to make everything accessible. 

Here are some examples: 

i) The Museum building is Grade 2 listed. 

The main structure of the building and some of the original fixtures and fittings (i.e. doors) are protected. This means that, to make any changes, we need to have the permission of English Heritage. It is English Heritage’s role to, wherever possible, preserve buildings in their original form.  

For example, we are unable to alter the stepped entrance to the original building. In 2001, the entrance moved to the building’s extension to provide level access to the Museum. 

ii) Many of our exhibits need to be protected from damage whether accidental or from the conditions of the room where it is on display.

While many of our exhibits are displayed in cases, we do try to put items on open display where the object is not at risk. This is not always possible.  

Where items are on open display it is important that the ambient relative humidity and temperature of the gallery is maintained and at a constant level. This means that doors leading into and out of a gallery need to be closed.  

There are other occasions when items on open display need to be protected and cannot be touched. In this instance you may find barriers which will show how close you can get to something. If you need further assistance, please ask a member of staff but remember you will not be allowed to touch it.  

Light levels in exhibitions of paintings and of costume and textiles need to be low.