The wine industry’s ‘ignorance is bliss’ attitude is limiting accessibility
The UK wine trade needs to start asking questions if it wants to make the industry a more welcoming space. Accessibility and wine consultant Emma Hodges tells Eloise Feilden what questions should be top of the list.
Emma Hodges has countless anecdotes which reveal ignorance in the wine trade when it comes to equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I).
“I’ve had someone say to me at a trade tasting ‘I’ve never seen a wheelchair user at a trade tasting, maybe they just don’t want to come’,” she says. She laments “the amount of times I’ve turned up to restaurants to see that the accessible toilet is being used as a storage cupboard, or it’s not actually in an accessible space.”
Her goal is to shift the dial.
Hodges began her career working in the care sector. She launched her business as an accessibility consultant in the wine trade – Emma’s Wine Time – in 2023, and currently holds roles as a Drinks United advisory council member and advisory specialist to WineGB.
Having focused on accessibility for decades, she says one of the biggest barriers is “this really British attitude of ‘ignorance is bliss’, and not asking questions”.
She asks why, if we’re happy to ask customers ‘do you have any dietary requirements?’, we can’t do the same for access needs.
“If we can ask that question, we can then support them to visit venues, to access that offering,” she explains.
Small changes, Hodges says, will make all the difference. “When they arrive, remove the chair that they’re not going to use at the table so they can wheel straight in; that level of warmth is a really different feeling,” she says of wheelchair users. “We wouldn’t turn up to a restaurant and say ‘have you got a chair for me to sit on’. They’re already in the chair they need, so we can remove that chair and make that space more welcoming.”
Hodges is aware that not all spaces will meet all access needs, particularly in the wine trade. “A lot of these buildings are in old settings. In London in particular you’ve got listed buildings,” she acknowledges. Her role as a consultant is to work within these parameters, not to try to change them. She says: “I’m never trying to go in and say ‘you need to put in a lift’ or ‘you need to put in a ramp’. It’s not the answer; that’s not supportive for a business to make change.”
But asking questions, and being transparent about limitations, can be enough.
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“If we’re saying to someone ‘have you got any dietaries?’, ask ‘have you got any access needs?’. Then if they say ‘Oh yes, I’m a full-time wheelchair user’, [you can say] ‘Okay, just to let you know, we have three steps in our property. Unfortunately we don’t have a second entrance’. That’s not going to change, because it’s in a listed building, but that person can [decide] that’s not going to be right for me.
“If we’re asking if you have any access needs, the customer or employee then has the ability to make an informed decision, and that information is key.”
Making the wine trade more accessible, particularly in the on-trade, will benefit business too.
One in four adults in the UK have a diagnosed need, according to official government statistics. “That’s one in four people we’re shutting off from accessing hospitality spaces if we’re not considering those needs,” Hodges says.
This goes for staff as well as customers. “If you’re not thinking about their access needs, they’re not going to choose to come and work for you. But if you are, suddenly you can make it a much more inviting space to come and work in.”
From a business perspective, this can be a “superpower”.
She explains: “If you’ve got someone working for you who has a visual need, they’ll start saying to you, ‘well actually, that sign’s not very clear, can we make it bigger?’ – they’re going to show you the way you can shape your business to be more inclusive.
“Suddenly they will talk about the things that will make it more accessible to all your customers. So that’s a really key thing, when looking at how we invite people into the industry, that they’re the ones who are going to enrich it for your customers as well.”
Ultimately, the logic is simple: “If they’re not in the room, how do you know what they need?”
And these needs, in the long run, have the opportunity to change businesses for the better. “If they’ve got a need that might take a few adjustments, actually, long term, those adjustments are probably going to benefit all your customers as well,” Hodges explains.
She is confident that the UK’s wine trade has begun to listen, and to initiate changes to business which will make the industry a more welcoming space. Despite “the odd ignorant comment” at trade tastings and in restaurants, Hodges says: “The voice is louder from people who want to support the change.”
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