Shop Accessibility

Welcome to Our Shop

Ensuring that Harbour Books is accessible is extremely important to us, please review our information about accessibility but if you have additional questions about visiting our store, please feel free to email us [email protected] and one of our friendly booksellers will get back to you. 

Information for wheelchair users and users of mobility scooters

The entrance to the shop is level with the pavement via an 85cm wide door, which accommodates most wheelchairs and mobility scooters. The main front room of the shop is designed around a table and the space is wide enough for wheelchair users/mobility scooters to access this main space. In this room in the shop we currently house most of our fiction and non-fiction titles. Booksellers are on hand to assist with reaching books down from high shelves. 

The rear of the shop is only accessible via three steps (height 16.5cm) and beyond that point the shop is narrower and more difficult to access. In this area we house our children’s books, parenting, travel and our greetings cards. We do have hand holds for support in getting up the stairs. 

For those with wheelchairs / scooters we appreciate that the back of the shop is not accessible enough. However, we now have our entire catalogue of books available in our online shop (link) so you can browse these titles online. If you would like to come in and see them in person, our booksellers would be happy to bring stock through to you in the front room to browse in comfort there. You can either just pop in, or if you’d like to make an appointment to shop for specific titles at a specific time, that’s absolutely fine – just email us [email protected] and we can arrange it with you. 

Accessibility for neurodiverse customers & those with hidden disabilities

We are very aware that not all disabilities are visible and we do our utmost to support all our customers and make the shop a welcoming environment for all.

We aren’t currently running a set “quiet hour” for customers who struggle with the experience of shopping – this could be anyone from those with autism or ADHD to those with anxiety. This is because the bookshop tends to be naturally quiet and calm much of the time. The mornings from 9.30-11am and the very end of the day from 4-5.30pm are ideal times for customers who would prefer to ensure that the environment is calm and relaxed. However, we are always open to hearing feedback from our customers, so please do contact us with your comments if you don’t think we’ve got this right. [email protected]

Online Accessibility

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. At Harbour Books, we are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of Harbour Books. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on harbourbooks.org via email. We will aim to respond to feedback within .