Art Fund Museum of the Year

The Box Full Logo White
Donate

Access

Hexagon artwork

We’d like everyone to enjoy our buildings, collections and events.

As an Accredited Museum and Archive, we follow national standards of good practice to make our spaces and collections as open, inclusive and accessible as possible.

We want everyone to feel welcome and supported during their visit and our facilities include free WiFi, a designated quiet space, accessible, gender-neutral and Changing Places toilets, and pre-visit guides for neurodiverse visitors. Staff and volunteers are also trained in disability awareness.

We work to remove or reduce barriers, whether physical, sensory, cultural, financial or digital, so that all visitors can benefit from what we do. If you have a suggestion for how we can improve your visit please let us know at TheBoxEnquiries@plymouth.gov.uk.

Access to the Box Plymouth

Visiting The Box

The Box is open 6 days a week from 10am–5pm. It is closed on Mondays but open on selected Bank Holidays. From time to time we may have to close galleries or limit access due to maintenance or private hire events.

The Box has free entry all year round. Charges are made for some of our activities, events, reproductions of images or moving image material which helps us to support our future work.

For assistance during your visit, please head to our Welcome Desk, or for advance enquiries please phone on 01752 304774 or email us. During busy periods our team may be helping visitors on site, but we will respond to your enquiry as soon as we can.

Please let us know of any access requirements when booking events or activities with us so that we can best accommodate your needs.

Getting here

The Box is easy to find with plenty of signposting both in and around Plymouth. Further information about travelling to The Box is on our Getting here page.

 

Entrance and Exit

Step free access to The Box is available at the main entrance on Tavistock Place. There are two wheelchairs and a motorised scooter are available to borrow for free on request. These are available from our Welcome Desk and can also be reserved in advance of your visit by emailing us.

Visit Plan Your Visit to find out about our current entrances and exits.

 

Access to our collections

We aim to provide the widest possible access to the artworks, objects, documents and films in our care, while balancing this with our responsibility to protect fragile and historic material.

You can access our collections in several ways:

In person

  • Visit our free permanent galleries.
  • View objects, artworks or archive records by booking a research session in the Cottonian Research Room.
  • Use onsite computers to explore family history resources (Ancestry and FindMyPast) and to watch films from the British Film Institute (BFIPlayer/BFIReplay).

Online

  • Explore selected images, artworks and photographs via our online store and ArtUK.
  • View some of our digitised film and moving image collections on BFI Player.
  • Search our online catalogues for museum, archive and media collections.

We work to ensure that interpretation is clear and accessible and you can find more details in the sections below. In some cases, access to certain items may be restricted for sensitivity, legal, conservation or safety reasons, and we will always explain why.

Access to information about our collections

You can search and discover more about what we hold through:

  • Our website, which includes introductions to each collection area
  • Our online museum catalogue
  • Our online archive catalogue
  • Enquiry support for our media collections.

Our team is here to help you get the most from your visit or research. If you have access needs, need help finding or understanding collection information or would like to discuss your visit or research in advance, please contact us and we will be happy to help.

The Box Plymouth external shot

Sign up to our newsletter

Be the first to know about upcoming exhibitions and events, news and access exclusive content by signing up to our newsletter.

SIGN UP

Sign up to our newsletter

Be the first to know about upcoming exhibitions and events, news and access exclusive content by signing up to our newsletter.

SIGN UP

Visit our Family page for more information

  • Two lifts provide access for regular and flatbed wheelchairs between floors and across the gallery spaces, providing step-free access to all public areas
  • We have wheelchair accessible and disabled toilets
  • A Changing Places toilet is accessible with a radar key
  • Check our map on the Plan Your Visit page to find our accessible lifts and toilets
  • Some seating is available in our galleries and foldable stools can be borrowed from our Welcome Desk.
  • Two wheelchairs and a motorised scooter are available to borrow for free on request. These are available from the main desk in the South Hall and can also be reserved in advance of your visit by emailing TheBoxEnquiries@plymouth.gov.uk.
  • Mobility scooters should be used with care, especially in busy areas. They must be used on the slowest possible setting to ensure that walking pace is not exceeded. They should be turned off at any time the user is not seated on the scooter.
  • Audio loops are installed in the Simmons learning room, Cottonian Research Room and at our welcome desk.
  • Projections and moving image displays in our galleries have subtitles.
  • Guide and assistance dogs are welcome in our building
  • Please let our Welcome Desk know if a guide or assistance dog is accompanying you
  • Signage is designed to accessibility standards
  • Large print label booklets are provided within each of our temporary exhibitions
  • We work to ensure that interpretation is clear and accessible, with easy to read text labels at appropriate heights and non-reflective case glass and well considered lighting
  • Support can be given to people with vision impairment to get closer to the collections in our Cottonian Research Room. Please contact 01752 308880 or collections@plymouth.gov.uk.
  • Handling collections can be specially requested to help people with sensory impairments get closer to our objects as part of their visit. Please contact us for information.

We want all our visitors to have a great time at The Box. With so much to see and do, you may find the following information helpful in planning your visit.

Our Port of Plymouth and Media Lab galleries are spaces with low light levels and large screen projections which may not be safe for some people with epilepsy. If you have any concerns before entering either of these spaces, please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of staff.

One of the first things visitors encounter when they arrive at The Box is our friendly team stationed at our Welcome Desk. They are on hand to provide you with advice and information so you can tailor your visit to suit your needs and interests. To get to our galleries you will pass under our large figureheads which are suspended from the ceiling, moving past the Kitchen & Bar and through our shop. The Kitchen & Bar can be busy and noisy at peak times. If you prefer a quieter experience you could choose to visit early in the morning or later in the afternoon.

We have lots of galleries for you to explore. Some of our permanent galleries will appear similar each time you visit (although do look closely – we often change the collections on display for conservation reasons!) Other spaces could look very different each time. Our changing programme may mean you encounter a large piece of contemporary art in our North Hall or in the spaces between our galleries.

Our main entrance area and Active Archives gallery are large spaces with lots of natural light.

Some of our galleries are darker. They include:

You’ll also find that we’ve used lots of film in many of these spaces to help bring our stories to life.

Information for Neurodiverse families
Visiting The Box social story
Download Map
Port of Plymouth exhibition
Port of Plymouth exhibition
Internal picture of The Box Plymouth
Port of Plymouth exhibition

Images by Andrew Meredith, courtesy of Event Communications.

As part of a local authority, The Box follows UK laws governing access to information and records. These laws help protect your rights and ensure openness, accountability and responsible stewardship of public records.

You have the legal right to request access to personal data we may hold about you. This could include information in some archive or administrative records.

Requests must be made in writing.

    • We will respond within one month (or tell you if more time is needed).
    • We may need to redact (black out) information about other people to protect their privacy.
    • We will always explain the reason if we cannot release certain information.

You can request information about how The Box operates, our decisions, or environmental information (eg, building data). Requests can be made here through the Plymouth City Council website.

Some historic records in our collections are covered by national legislation. In some cases, access may depend on decisions made by the public body that created the records. We will guide you through this process when relevant.

The Box follows national guidelines for best practice, including:

  • Archive Service Accreditation through National Archives UK, which sets standards for access, preservation and service management.
  • Arts Council England’s Museum Accreditation Standard, which ensures we provide clear physical, intellectual and digital access to our collections.
  • The Museums Association Code of Ethics, which sets principles for public benefit, fairness and inclusivity.

 

These frameworks shape our commitment to open and responsible access.