hmv Empire — Restaurant in Coventry

Came here in Jan 2024 for James Arthur. First time coming to a public event since my friend has become a wheelchair user. We phoned ahead and emailed and were told the venue was wheelchair accessible. Positives, we didn’t have to queue like stated and there was a lift to get to the main room. But we were left to ourselves to find our way around. When we found the room, none of our tickets were checked at all and there was nobody monitoring the accessible area. I know not all disabilities are visible, but 10 mins into the concert, so many people moved from the general standing area into the accessible area that we were all boxed in. There is no raised platform so this area is a sectioned off area to the left hand side of the crowd which anyone can enter. It could fit 3-4 people in each row. So if you weren’t in that first row of 3 -4 people, you could not see. There was at least 6 wheelchair users all placed one behind another , (as you could only fit 3-4 people across), so limited to no visibility. We were told that the accessible area is usually at the front but James Arthur’s security made it be at the left side of the general standing for this event? Poor accessibility especially in the event of a fire as we were...

This is a dreadful venue. The entrance is a cold pair of escalators and outside we were bothered by lots of loud rowdy drunk people trying to push the queue. Inside it gets worse, with sticky floors and a cramped, grimy bar. There was no space to queue for the actual seating area, so it was just cramped chaos.

When we finally got in, the seating arrangement was awful. Tiny little letters were stuck on the chairs and even tinier numbers (see pictures). Nobody could find their seats and it was so dark the labels were illegible.

The chairs weren't fixed together in rows (I'm pretty sure that's a fire safety requirement) and the rows were hardly straight. Sometimes there was one row per letter, sometimes two (looking at you row k and row k just behind also!).

But even worse than all that was the fact that they sold us a ticket for a show at 18:00, we got there at 17:40, and it turns out they'd moved it to 19:00 without telling us. We sat their for 80 minutes waiting for it to start. Around half the people there were like us, unsure why it wasn't starting, then the other half arrived about 18:40.

Terrible layout, unclean, rowdy, badly organised, expensive, cold....

We'd booked for a Fleetwood Mac tribute band (Fleetingwood Mac - they were very good). Tickets said doors opened at 7. They opened a little after but the band didn't start until 8 (this information wasn't provided).

The venue itself is on the first floor accessible by stairs or a lift. There is a small bar and balcony that can be used before/during/after performances.

The main room is large and has two stages. There is also a bar in there.

As we'd not visited before, we were expecting a theatre-style with seating. However, it was an open space with chairs available but mainly standing.

There were a lot of people but it wasn't overcrowded.

Good security, lovely staff.

Drinks are expensive at £5+ per pint, although it's not much different from other venues in the area.

Accessibility - venue primarily accessible by stairs but a lift is available. Balcony area is via a few steps. Main toilets are up a large flight of stairs, toilet area is quite narrow but there are plenty available. There is a disabled/baby change within the main venue, which is accessible with...