Access
Audio listings
Below are our audio listings for the NQ Jazz programme from June to October, 2021. They contain information including gig titles and dates, ticket prices and start times.
Access Officers
At The Yard, points of contact for access are Jo Hamburger (she/her) and Liam Hudspeth (he/him). Both can be contacted via the email address below. Both staff members tend to be on duty when NQ Jazz events are taking place. They aim to respond to you within 72 hours of receiving your e-mail. Please provide your phone number in the body of your email, in case a member of staff needs to call you on the day of the event.
At The Stoller Hall, there is an access scheme in place to make your visit as fulfilling as possible. You can sign up to the scheme so that the venue has your access requirements for your first and all future visits. Find out more about the scheme here or email the Box Office & Production Coordinator Aoife McHugh (she/her).
Emails sent via these links will also be received by Kyran Matthews (he/him) and Emily Burkhardt (she/her) at NQ Jazz, who can provide additional assistance in the run-up to gigs, as well as on the day.
Bookable Access Facilities
We offer free tickets for personal assistants and support workers at all NQ Jazz gigs. Please email us and we will arrange this for whichever venue/event you plan to attend.
NQ Jazz events at The Yard are laid out with flexible cabaret-style seating, spread 180° around the artists. The atrium is all on one level and there is no stage, so the audience and artists are on the same level. We are able to reserve seats (with stool tables) for anyone with access requirements. We are happy to situate those in a place where you have a clear path to toilets, exits, or any other part of the building you may need to access, while trying to make sure you have a good view of the performers. Toilets are located just off the atrium down a corridor approximately 5m in length. Please email us to request a reservation.
Arrival guide
Doors for events open 30 minutes before the start time, which is given in the audio listings and on the event pages on our website for each gig. If you have access requirements that mean you would prefer to be allowed into the venue before doors officially open, we can accommodate this. For gigs at The Yard, please email us to arrange this. We will give you a contact number in our email response that you can call upon arrival, in case the main entrance door is locked or in case a cue in front of the door has formed. We will then greet you outside so that you can enter the venue through the main entrance.
Upon arrival at The Yard, you will be greeted by staff members where the entrance meets the atrium. You can direct any questions you may have to Kyran Matthews (he/him) and Emily Burkhardt (she/her)—one of whom will usually be on the door at all times—or to Jo Hamburger (she/her) and Liam Hudspeth (he/him), both of whom work for The Yard.
Tickets are checked and access accreditation is given at the entrance to the atrium, a few meters inside The Yard’s main entrance.
We welcome attendees who need to bring medicines, food, drink or medical equipment with them, to manage a medical condition. If you would like to notify us in advance or have any concerns, please feel free to email us at your discretion.
NQ Jazz strives to be inclusive and accessible for all. We are keen to take all reasonable steps to meet the requirements of our deaf and disabled customers, and pledge to exceed expectations wherever possible. We are excited to be working with Attitude is Everything, to ensure that we are doing everything we can to make our events accessible and inclusive.
Our full access guide contains detailed information on bookings, transport, getting around in the venue, and more. You can download it here.
For full information on access at Chetham’s School of Music and The Stoller Hall, please click here.
For full information regarding access at The Yard, please click here.
For any further access queries or if you have any feedback on how we can improve, please don’t hesitate to send us an email! We value all positive (& negative!)criticism, and see this as crucial to ensuring we offer everything we should be!
Travel guide
NQ Jazz events take place at two venues: The Yard and The Stoller Hall.
The Yard is situated in Cheetham Hill, just off Cheetham Hill Road (A665) on Bent Street. Bent Street is between Broughton Street and Derby Street. Nearby transport links include Manchester Victoria Station and Queens Road Metrolink stop. The 41 bus, which connects Sale and Middleton via Didsbury, Bowker Vale, and Higher Blackley, stops on Cheetham Hill Road, adjacent to Derby Street. The 135 bus, which connects Bury and Manchester Piccadilly via Whitefield and Cheetham Hill, stops on Cheetham Hill Road, adjacent to Elizabeth Street. There is plenty of unrestricted street parking on Bent Street and nearby side roads, but no designated Blue Badge parking or drop-off bays. Parking spots immediately outside the venue can be reserved for people with access requirements. Please email us to arrange a reservation.
The Stoller Hall is situated on Hunts Bank, which can be accessed via Manchester Victoria Station approach, or from Victoria Street. It is on the south side of the AO Arena (otherwise known as The Manchester Arena). Nearby transports links include Manchester Victoria station, Manchester Piccadilly Station, and Shudehill Metrolink stop. Numerous buses stop at ‘Victoria Rail Station (Stop NY)’ on the Victoria Station Approach, including the 2 (Manchester Free Bus), the 8, which connects Bolton with Shudehill via Farnworth, Pendlebury, and Salford, and the 59, which connects Oldham Mumps to Piccadilly Gardens via Chadderton and Middleton.
Below is a map plotting the route from Manchester Piccadilly Station to The Stoller Hall via Manchester Victoria station, then on to The Yard.
The entire route is approximately 3.1km. Manchester Piccadilly to The Stoller Hall is approximately 1.8km.
A taxi rank is situated inside the Fairfield Street entrance to Manchester Piccadilly, and black cabs can also be caught on Piccadilly Road at the bottom of the Manchester Piccadilly station approach. Black cabs can be caught on Victoria Station Approach, outside one of the three southern entrances that face The Stoller Hall.
Venue access
Both The Yard and The Stoller Hall have step-free access via their main entrances.
When approaching The Stoller Hall from Manchester Victoria Station Approach, you will notice that the top step to the front entrance extends on one level to the edge of the footpath. If you are approaching from Victoria Street, you will need to travel past the steps on your right to join the level top step from the pavement on the bend of the road.
The Yard has Ramp access to the front and rear of the venue.
The Stoller Hall has a number of things in place to make performances as accessible as possible, including Tactile wayfinding signage for visually impaired visitors, a Sennheiser infra-red hearing system for those with hearing impairments, and fully accommodates assistance dogs. Please find more detailed information on their access page.
The Yard welcomes assistance dogs for atrium events. Staff can also help anyone who is feeling overwhelmed for any reason to find a quiet place in the building to decompress (there are corridors off the atrium that lead to quieter parts of the building, and an outdoor area can be accessed from the atrium).
We unfortunately do not offer British Sign Language, Captioning, or Audio Description for live events or livestreams at this time. We unfortunately do not offer Relaxed Performance options at this time, but at both The Stoller Hall and The Yard, staff are able to help anyone who might be distressed by any aspect of the event to find a quieter place in the venue to decompress.