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Dining out with the purple pound

Much has been written about the power of the purple pound and why businesses should court customers with disabilities. Why then is eating out when you use a wheelchair such a problem?
I like taking my wife out for lunch, sometimes it's just a supermarket cafe while we shop, other times it's to a pub or restaurant. An hour or two without the kids can be bliss. There is one snag we regularly find though, getting a table that my chair will fit under.
So often we are shown to a table that has legs that stop a wheelchair from being pulled right in. That's if we can get to the table in the first place, why do pubs insist on having raised seating areas? For a wheelchair user, one step might as well be a thousand for the barrier it creates.
It's not difficult to get it right. At this point I want to say well done to Morrisons. Ok, maybe their cafe isn't known for gourmet cuisine, but our local store recently introduced something wonderful. They now have tables designed for wheelchair users, simple, effective and much appreciated.
Maybe we should make cafes, pubs and restaurants work harder if they want a share of the purple pound.
I like taking my wife out for lunch, sometimes it's just a supermarket cafe while we shop, other times it's to a pub or restaurant. An hour or two without the kids can be bliss. There is one snag we regularly find though, getting a table that my chair will fit under.
So often we are shown to a table that has legs that stop a wheelchair from being pulled right in. That's if we can get to the table in the first place, why do pubs insist on having raised seating areas? For a wheelchair user, one step might as well be a thousand for the barrier it creates.
It's not difficult to get it right. At this point I want to say well done to Morrisons. Ok, maybe their cafe isn't known for gourmet cuisine, but our local store recently introduced something wonderful. They now have tables designed for wheelchair users, simple, effective and much appreciated.
Maybe we should make cafes, pubs and restaurants work harder if they want a share of the purple pound.
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