Accessibility

OUR GOAL

We want everyone who visits the Guildhall Shopping & Dining websites and Guildhall Shopping Centre to feel welcome and have a rewarding and pleasant experience.

THE WEBSITES

We believe in access to information over the internet for all. This overview provides details of the accessibility features we have implemented on this website.

Our website can be viewed on a range of different screen sizes and the size of website can be changed to suit different people. We have also included a search facility and sitemap to help people find information more easily.

Zooming

In modern browsers you can increase the size of all images and text on the page by zooming.

• In Internet Explorer 9 or higher, select the Settings menu then select Zoom > Zoom In or press CTRL +
• In Chrome, select View > Zoom In
• In Firefox, select View > Zoom In

Accessibility guidelines

All pages of this website conform to Level A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.

These guidelines are the internationally recognised benchmark for building accessible websites. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines explain how to make websites more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformity to these guidelines also makes websites more user-friendly for all people.

Web standards and technologies

This website has been built to conform to W3C standards for HTML and CSS; these technologies are relied upon throughout the site. The site displays correctly in all popular web browsers, and degrades gracefully in older browsers. In addition, this website uses JavaScript/Flash/PDF technology. Where possible, these have been built to meet the same level of accessibility as the rest of the site.

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

To help us make our websites a positive place for everyone, all pages on this site are valid XHTML.

All pages on this site follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) web content accessibility guidelines.

The guidelines have three levels of accessibility (A, AA and AAA) and we’ve chosen Level AA as the initial target for our websites.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

We are always looking for ways to help people get the best experience from our websites.

If you enjoyed using www.guildhallshoppingexeter.co.uk and www.queenst-exeter.com websites, you had trouble with any part of it, or there is information you think should be included on our pages, then please get in touch via info@guildhallshoppingexeter.co.uk.

THE CENTRE

Our team

Guildhall Shopping & Dining is a WorldHost recognised business and as our most valuable resource, and potentially your first point of contact when visiting, each of our team has received “Principles of Customer Service” and “Customers with Disabilities” training, and are independently mystery shopped on a regular basis to ensure that we continue to provide the best possible experience for you.

As part of our membership of the Dementia Alliance in Exeter, we have also undertaken dementia awareness training and sighted guide training with Guide Dogs UK; the centre itself is also a guide dog training area.

As part of our commitment to their continued development as a team we have achieved and been re-accredited with Investors in People GOLD status, which recognises the regular training that we do.

Your safety

We have been a Child Safe Zone since 2006 and offer free wristbands allowing children to carry their parent or guardian’s phone number safely. Look out for the dispensers located at each of the store directories and help Child Safe Zones to reunite your child with you quickly if they lose sight of you.

We also provide a family-friendly free wifi service, Friendly WiFi, a government-initiated safe certification standard for public wi-fi.

The Friendly WiFi symbol tells you that the service meets minimum filtering standards, ensuring that our customers of all ages have access to public wifi within the centre that is properly filtered and safe for children.

This certification means you can know for sure that your online experience is safe. 

Physical accessibility

We regularly undertake independent accessibility audits and wherever possible implement any points raised or ensure that when changes are made to the centre, the audit reports are included. All centre entrances, stores and restaurants are accessible to wheelchair users and there is good circulation space throughout.

The majority of our Brands are on the ground floor, with a smaller number on the first floor. At ground floor, all level changes are made by appropriate gradient changes, with handrails where necessary. Access to the first floor is by lift only – there are two general customer lifts in the main mall, and a general customer lift and two specific mobility platforms in Queen St. Dining.

Any steps within the centre, inside or out, are well-lit with relevant tactile top and bottom markers, clear edge marking, handrails, and/or adjacent platform lifts.

We currently have a disabled and baby change washroom facility at ground floor on Waterbeer Street and ladies’ and gents’ WCs, with an accessible cubicle in both, on the first floor of the main mall.

On the first floor of Queen St. Dining there is a disabled and baby change facility, along with ladies’ and gents’ WCs with an accessible cubicle and baby change facility in each.

The centre and signage is well, and evenly lit, with overhead and feature lighting throughout the day and evening. In the event of an emergency, the centre has a PA system and audible voice messaging system to provide guidance and direction.

You can find out more about our site accessibility by visiting our Euan’s guide here. 

Wherever you are travelling from, by road, train, bus or air, Exeter and Guildhall Shopping & Dining are easy to get to. Planning your journey couldn’t be easier and can be done following the link: www.guildhallshoppingexeter.co.uk/visiting-us. If all the information you require is not here, please contact us directly at info@guildhallshoppingexeter.co.uk.

Finally, all the training and facilities in the world can only achieve so much.

We believe that having the right knowledge, empathy and understanding is the key to making our centre YOUR centre.