Wide Doors, Fuller Tills: The Commercial Case for Step-Free Exmoor

Accessibility has an image problem. Say the word in a village hall and half the room hears ‘building regulations’; the other half hears ‘expensive’. Meanwhile, a family in a rented cottage near Wheddon Cross is quietly crossing a café off their list because the website shows three stone steps and no mention of whether a buggy — or a wheelchair — can get in.

That’s the gap the step-free dividend lives in. Not a grand rebuild. Lots of small, honest improvements, clearly described, that make it easier for people to choose you. On Exmoor, where visitors plan journeys around narrow lanes, tides and opening hours, being part of the plan is worth real money.

Start with a walk-round, not a builder

Before you price a ramp, spend an hour measuring what you’ve already got. Take a tape measure, a phone and a notebook. Measure the clear width of the front door (800mm is a useful benchmark), count the steps, note the threshold lip, the surface of the path, the distance from the nearest parking, and whether the door is easy to open from a seated position. Photograph it — both standing up and from seated height, because the two views often tell different stories.

Then ask someone who actually uses the information. A disabled customer, a local access group, a friend with a rollator. You don’t need a formal audit to learn that the gravel outside the side entrance is a nightmare for wheels, or that the ‘accessible’ table is the one with the wobbly leg.

The cheap wins that change a visit

A lot of access work is rearranging, not rebuilding. Move the bench that blocks the path. Clear the gutter of leaves. Put a bell by the door with a sign that says ‘please ring for help — we’ll come to you’. Add a grab rail to the two steps into the loo. Replace a heavy door closer with a lighter one. Put a sturdy, properly fixed portable ramp over a single step — and check it every morning, because a loose ramp is worse than no ramp.

If you’re installing a permanent ramp, the usual rule of thumb is a gradient of 1:12, with a level landing at the top. That’s not a detail to guess at; get it wrong and you’ve built a ski jump. But even before that, a ‘please ask’ sign and a member of staff who knows how to help without making a fuss can turn a difficult entrance into a warm welcome.

Tell people before they set off

This is where accessibility becomes marketing. Most disabled travellers, older visitors and parents with buggies do their research at home, on a phone, weeks before they arrive. If your website says ‘accessible’ and nothing else, they’ll assume the worst. If it says ‘one step at the front, a 1:12 ramp to the side, 82cm doorway, gravel path, nearest parking 30 metres’, they can make a decision.

Create a simple access page: photos, measurements, step counts, surface type, whether there’s a loo on site or nearby, and how far it is. Add the wheelchair-accessible entrance attribute to your Google Business Profile. List your details on AccessAble or Euan’s Guide if you can. Post a short ‘what to expect’ video on social media. And put the same information in a printable PDF for the coach trade and local accommodation providers.

The customers you’re not seeing

Step-free thinking isn’t only about wheelchairs. It’s buggies, rollators, suitcases, delivery trolleys, and the tired knees of someone who’s just walked the Coleridge Way. It’s the grandparent who can manage a pub lunch but not a cobbled yard. It’s the carer who chooses where to eat based on whether there’s room to manoeuvre.

These visitors rarely travel alone. They come in family groups, they book ahead, they eat properly, and they buy gifts. They also talk to each other — online and in the queue — about the places that made life easy. A reputation for being straightforward and welcoming travels further than any advert.

Don’t promise what you can’t deliver

The one thing worse than three steps is a website that says ‘fully accessible’ when there are three steps. Be honest. ‘Two steps into the dining room, but we’ll help you in and reserve a table by the window’ is a perfectly good offer. Under-promise and over-welcome.

Train the team, too. A short briefing on asking before helping, not grabbing someone’s wheelchair without permission, and knowing where the nearest accessible toilet is will do more than a new sign. Review the information every season, because the ramp you bought three years ago may not be the one you’ve got today.

A small experiment for this winter

Pick one thing. Maybe it’s a doorbell and a sign. Maybe it’s measuring the entrance and writing three paragraphs for the website. Maybe it’s asking a regular customer what would make their visit easier. Do it before spring, then watch the enquiries. Ask ‘how did you find us?’ at the till. You don’t need a spreadsheet to spot the pattern.

Exmoor is a place people plan for. If your business is easy to plan around, you get put in the plan. That’s the step-free dividend: not a compliance box, but a wider door and a fuller till.