The Venue
Summerhall is a destination arts venue just around the corner from the Meadows.
Summerhall
Summerhall is a destination arts venue just around the corner from the Meadows. Home to award-winning theatre and art, as well as resident creative artists, businesses, a brewery and a distillery, there is more to explore than just our festival!
The venue provides us with light-filled marketplaces, a huge community room with bar/café and stage, as well as additional spaces for quiet wellbeing areas, workshops and talks.
It is easily accessible by public transport, but parking is very limited in the nearby residential streets. We have information here to help with your visit.
Travel
Summerhall is a city centre venue great for public transport but not for parking - we’d discourage car use where possible. (Please also bear in mind the Edinburgh City Council Low Emissions Zone guidance).
For those needing to park, there are some city centre bookable car parks and parking areas in nearby residential streets, but space cannot be guaranteed.
If you can, why not use the Park and Ride at Ingliston, take the tram (ticket in advance from platform machines) to Haymarket or Princes St, then follow the bus (contactless tap) guidance below instead?
Edinburgh has a fantastic public transport system and the TfE app is great for making personalised journey plans from where you are based to Summerhall.
In general, if you are coming from Haymarket, take a 2, 3, 31 or 33 BUS from stance HA on Dalry Road OR if you are coming from Princes St, take a 3, 30, or 33 BUS from stance PH by Marks and Spencers
….to Bernard Terrace and walk down Hope Park Terrace to Summerhall!
Accessibility
The Summerhall building used to be part of the University of Edinburgh Veterinary College, and despite its historical charm and many quirks, Summerhall is committed to improving access to the building. The Woolly Good Gathering will be occupying the Main Hall and the Dissection Room alongside other rooms for workshops and talks. There will be two quiet ‘wellbeing and recharge’ rooms set aside – one for vendors, speaker and workshop providers and one for ticket holders.
Accessibility information is available on their website and in addition, we’re posting some info below.
In general, we’ve maximised marketplace space for accessibility with wide walkways and plenty of room between vendor stands. There will be seating available in each marketplace. Additionally, the Neighbourhood is a huge room dedicated to comfortable seating, rest and chat. As mentioned above, there is also a quiet room for those who may need a separate space, if sensory overload gets too much. In addition to the seating and rest spaces organised by The Woolly Good Gathering, Summerhall has its own café and Courtyard seating areas too.
As with all such events, The Gathering is likely to be quieter towards the end of the afternoon…
If you want some more details, we hope the following is useful…
Accessibility – getting into the building
If you need step free access, use the gate entrance, taking the first left after the main steps to Summerhall (please note, at the beginning of each day, this will also be the Kickstarter queue)…
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Straight ahead of you is the entrance to the building via the ramp to collect tickets. If you are self-propelling, this is a slight gradient…
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This point is also where you have step free access to the Anatomy Lecture Theatre for talks
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There will be volunteers here to help – ticket collection is along the corridor to your left (and the lift is immediate left here)
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Accessibility – inside Summerhall
Arriving at the ramped entrance you are facing the Library Gallery marketplace and the lift is behind you…Turn left for the Quiet Room…
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Or right for the MF café and Accessible toilet…
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Or back down the ramp to access the Anatomy Lecture Theatre…
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Lower Ground Floor for the Lounge, with Shiatsu, Atelier , seating and marketplace
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First floor lift for Upper Gallery / Main Hall marketplace and Woolly Good Merch collection stand!
If you want to use the mobility lift for the Neighbourhood in the Dissection Room, turn right out of the lift and go through the gallery space, where volunteers will assist.
Toilets
All loos in Summerhall are mixed gender, because toilets are for every body. It is clearly signed whether these are separate, single or multiple cubicles.
There are toilets on every floor.
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Rest
Each marketplace at The Woolly Good Gathering has seating, and there are numerous seated areas around the site corridors. Of course, we have our ‘Neighbourhood’ in the first floor Dissection Room which is entirely given over to sitting, chat and relaxation with music.
If you are feeling sensory overload, there is a dedicated QUIET room on the Ground Floor – turn right when facing the main stairs on the ground and you’ll find Rm 90. This is not for chat, but a place to get away from the bustle and avoid noise as much as possible.
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Food
In addition to Summerhall’s own MF Café and Royal Dick pub, we have food trucks and pizza in the courtyard, and drinks, sweets things or savoury treats in both the Lower Ground Lounge and Dissection Room ‘Neighbourhood’. In all areas you’ll have vegan, dairy and gluten free options.
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FYI…
Summerhall has some independent reviews of its accessibility improvements on Euan’s Guide, which you can view here on their website.
The venue does not yet have reviews on Sociability App, but you would be very welcome to contribute to this excellent source of accessibility information. You can download the app from their website here.