I went to Skylon last week. "Located within the Royal Festival Hall, Skylon offers a spectacular panorama of London's skyline with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the River Thames. A destination restaurant and a relaxed, informal grill centre around a raised bar serving classic and contemporary cocktails, perfect for day and night".
It lives up to its description. The meal was one of the best I've had for a long time, especially the chervil and goat's cheese soup, an unusual and delicious combination. The fish was perfectly cooked, the sorbets wonderfully cleansing, service immaculate. The table height was good and the floor wonderfully level. So far, so good.
However, getting to the restaurant was a different matter entirely. We started from the riverside entrance and caught the wheelchair lift up to the first floor. Well, what we thought was the first floor, except it turned out to be a kind of waiting area with steps up to the main lifts. Back down to another lift which went to the third floor, the entrance for Skylon. However, there were steps down to the restaurant. So back down to the first floor and push across to another lift. This one seemed to go to the third floor and the section we need. But no, it doesn't stop at the third floor, only the right-hand lift does. And that wasn't working. The service lift was locked. This whole process has taken at least ten minutes so far and my frustration is rising. Finally, we see another service lift with a staff member inside. We squash in and finally, finally get to the same level as the Skylon entrance. What an appalling start. Surely it would not be that difficult to label lifts so that this situation is avoided? The only information on the restaurant's own website is "Step-free access to Skylon is available from the Royal Festival Hall Foyer". I don't think so.
Update:
I sent Skylon an email following my delicious meal with disappointing access:
Dear Skylon
I came last Friday (7th August) to the Skylon restaurant for a pre-theatre meal. It was exquisite. The food was superb (especially the perfect chervil and goat’s cheese soup), the service excellent and the price reasonable. I was delighted with the happy birthday plate I had requested. However, getting to the restaurant was a different matter entirely. I’m paralysed and a wheelchair user. I had warned staff in advance. However, it must have taken me at least ten extremely frustrating minutes to get to Skylon from the riverside entrance of the RFH. The first lift took us to the third floor but one with steps down to the restaurant. The second lift didn’t stop at the third floor. The adjoining lift, which did stop there, wasn’t working. The service lift was locked. We finally managed to get to our destination (late) by cramming in to another service lift with a staff member.
The same situation happened in reverse when we left. We asked to be directed to the QEH artists’ entrance and were told we would be met by a staff member. No one met us. Following the directions given at the restaurant took us to the main entrance of the QEH. We then had to be escorted round to the artists’ entrance. This meant that we were ten minutes late in reaching our seats and the show had to be held up especailly for us. It was a sour end to a fabulous evening.
Please can you let me know what you inted to do to make any future visit more pleasant? At present, whilst I would love to sample the food once more, I feel no inclination to struggle against the lifts to reach the restaurant.
I look forward to hearing from you.
I received the following impressive response from Simon King, the general manager:
I was recently given your email and although it was nice to hear how you enjoyed your birthday with us at Skylon I feel very embarrassed with how difficult you found both arriving and departing from our restaurant. I’m so sorry that you had this inconvenience, we are somewhat misfortunate that Skylon being on level 3 has no direct accessible access other than this one lift that was not working.
We do have an agreement with the Royal Festival Hall that a ramp is to be fitted to the adjacent stairs to allow guest direct access to the restaurant from another lift, which we sometimes use for large wheelchairs do not fit in the main lift. I have spoken to the Royal Festival Hall about this matter and they now know if the lift on the riverside entrance is out of order other arrangements must be made to maintain constant access. Fortunately these lift are pretty reliable and rarely are out of action for very long, however this experience has reminded us that we need to react when things go wrong and I have informed my staff of the necessary procedure.
Thank you so much for taking the time in giving us your valuable feedback, I do hope you still managed to enjoy your birthday. I would like to reassure you that the access to Skylon is usually very good and it should not deter you from future visits. I do hope that we will see you again at Skylon, please do hesitate to contact me directly and I will take care of the reservation myself
Best regards
Simon
