128 Accessible Edinburgh: A Festival Guide Entertainment 129

Entertainment

Edinburgh has a number of fine theatres and

concert halls, and there are independent art-house

cinemas as well as mainstream movie theatres.

Many pubs offer entertainment ranging from live

Scottish folk music to pop, rock and jazz as well

as karaoke and quiz nights, while a range of stylish

modern bars purvey house, dance and hip-hop to

the pre-clubbing crowd.

d

Accessible Edinburgh: A Festival Guide

Holyrood & Arthurs Seat

Edinburgh Folk Club

http://www.edinburghfolkclub.co.uk; Pleasance Courtyard, 60 The

Pleasance; admission £10; bus 36

The Pleasance Cabaret Bar is the home venue of the Edinburgh

Folk Club, which runs a program of visiting bands and singers at

8pm on Wednesday nights.

Due to building works, access is currently via a courtyard off

The Pleasance. There are no steps from the courtyard into the

venue so wheelchair access is not a problem, but the room

itself is on two levels separated by a few steps, which prevents

wheelchair access to the lower level. Unfortunately the toilets

can be accessed only from the lower level and are therefore not

wheelchair-accessible.

New Town

Edinburgh Playhouse

0844 871 3014; http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/edinburgh-play-

house; 18-22 Greenside Pl; box office 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, to

8pm show nights; all Leith Walk buses

This restored theatre at the top of Leith Walk stages Broadway

musicals, dance shows, opera and popular-music concerts.

Reviewers are divided in their opinion of this venue. Two

bemoaned the lack of a lift to the stalls, the number of stairs to

negotiate to get there and the lack of helpfulness of the staff.

Two wheelchair users, however, rated access and staff highly,

but both were accommodated in the circle, where the accessible

toilet is located. This shows how important it is to phone ahead

to explain your needs.

Jam House

0131-220 2321; http://www.thejamhouse.com; 5 Queen St; admission

from £4; 6pm-3am Fri & Sat; buses 10, 11, 12, 16, 26, 44

The brainchild of rhythm’n’blues pianist and TV personality Jools

Holland, the Jam House is set in a former BBC TV studio and

offers a combination of fine dining and live jazz and blues per-

formances. Admission is for over-21s only, and there’s a smart-

casual dress code.

The Jam House is fully wheelchair-accessible, with a ramp at

the entrance to the building, a lift and accessible toilet.