University of Wolverhampton at The Halls — Attraction in Wolverhampton

I took my children to the Civic Hall for their very first gig, they were excited beyond measure. For the three of us, we had a small backpack holding 3 cardigans, 2 sets of ear defenders, my wallet, my meds, my keys, my phone and a “hard plastic” type of water bottle. I was half expecting that the bottle might be taken from us for security reasons so I took an old one I didn’t really care about. No biggie. Half an hour taxi ride to get there (I can’t drive for medical reasons), but as soon as we arrive we get told that we can’t go in with the backpack because it’s “bigger than A4”. I point out that it’s for the three of us, that it’s not holding anything dangerous, absolutely willing to empty the entire bag for them but no. They say the contents are fine but the bag can’t go in. They say that it says so on our tickets but I show them the “tickets”, which I far as I know can ONLY be obtained after downloading an app and opening an account, and it’s just a QR code with a quick line below to indicate which seats we’re on, nothing about bags. It’s summer, we have no pockets, and that’s just too many small but important things to hold in our hands for the entire gig! We put our cardigans on and show that the bag can now be crushed down to a lot smaller size than A4, it even has straps to secure it in this position. But no, they won’t budge and tell us that it’s the venue’s policy and suggest that we go to the pub next door to ask then to hold the bag until after the gig. Humiliating. And also doesn’t solve the issue of us having to hold multiple items in our hands for the whole gig. I ask if at least they have some suitable plastic or paper bags at hand but no. Of course not. So we go to the pub and beg for the favour. The lady at the bar is an angel and even has a battered paper bag for us. She tells us that since this ridiculous policy has been enforced she’s has multiple people coming to her LITERALLY crying. Finally we head back to the queue with the paper bag barely holding together, they check the content again and say that the sippy bottle can’t go in. But it was fine a few minutes ago? I could have left it at the bar but now I have to choice but to toss it in the bin. I read another comment that mentioned sweets being taken away from a diabetic lady. These policies are ridiculous. Many dangerous things could be concealed in a bag smaller than A4. And if the (minimal) bulkiness of the bag was really the issue then its “strapped down” mode was resolving it. The gig was great, and even having to constantly stand us to let others leave or come back to their seat was a minor inconvenience. But the bag thing is just puzzling and frustrating, definitely put a damper...

Decently enough renovated concert hall with great sound and acoustics with some operational flaws. I recently attended a wonderful gig by Marillion and had a seat on the front row in the first balcony, to the side. I couldn't have any complaints from where I was seated as the view was good however I'm aware that the downstairs temporary seating is not only uncomfortable, it's squeezed in too close to each other and offers terrible leg room. I'm so pleased I booked a seat upstairs because I know this would have ruined my evening being in such discomfort. I'm also aware that the front few rows to the sides of the venue offered dreadful views of the stage, whereby the occupants could only see half of the production due to poor sight lines. Either these seats should be sold for events at a cheaper price or preferably the whole seating plan be reduced in numbers and configured in such a way that all can see wherever sat in the room. A personal gripe of mine too, was the segregation within the venue. Upstairs ticket holders have to enter the venue via a different door to those downstairs and are restricted from mingling together once in. For me, this is utterly ridiculous as I personally was alone whilst my circle of friends were all downstairs. Why on earth are we not permitted to have a drink in the bar together pre-show? Absolute nonsense. The positioning of merch sales on each level is a good idea in principle, however, again due to the stupid segregation issue, I overheard some people being unable to buy particular tshirts in their sizes as they had sold out, but of course weren't allowed to go downstairs to see if the stock there could accommodate. Surely this issue should be addressed? I really don't like saying negative things about places I visit however, nothing changes if points are not highlighted and brought to the attention of those who need to know and I strongly feel my points raised need looking into. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the gig, and I wouldn't be put off visiting again, however I would have to choose an upstairs seat, similar to the one I had unless changes are made. Good luck and...

Gig consisting of Extreme supported by Living Colour. Whilst I cannot attribute the listening experience much to the venue, the fidelity was good (some of the amplification and speakers where the band's own). I do however feel able to attribute the act of getting the acts there, at least somewhat to the venue, and the venue capably handled hosting this from the pov of a spectator. We arrived on foot and I can report that access, entry and egress was good. The toilet and bar provision and operation were noteworthy for all the wrong reasons. Reader, we didn't have time to go to the loo and get a drink in the time it took the support to clear and the main act to set-up. The toilets are hopelessly under provisioned with agonising queues. That's only the gents so goodness knows what state the ladies were in. This needs an architectural re-design so it functions quicker. The queue for the toilet was only the warm up queue compared to the bar, which barely moved and felt almost infinite. 4 bar staff, not all of them serving, at least half the taps were off so the staff were having to wait for taps to be available. I dare say somebody will have justification for why this was the case but I'm afraid it is nothing more than an excuse as there was plenty of money sloshing about that night based on an apparently capacity crowd all paying healthy coin for tickets. Furthermore I dare say there would be others, who like us, would have gone back for a second and maybe even a third, doubling or tripling takings, but we weren't going to repeat that lamentable customer experience. There are people out there who know how to run a bar but none of them were working at this venue on this night. I'm pretty sure I can say this is the longest I've ever queued for the gents and a bar, and to hear the main act start playing when we were still, yes, queueing, was galling. Suffice to say in future if there is an alternative choice of venue, I'll take it. My first visit to Wolverhampton and...