National Glass Centre Reviews Summary

Atmosphere & Location

Pros:

• "Good value for money and a lovely atmosphere the venue is very relaxing."
• "Lovely cafe with great views over the river."
• "This centre is very modern, with lots of natural light from its riverside location."
• "Situated on river Wear with restraunt/cafe and gift shop."
• "Really worth a visit. Beautiful light and modern building on the river."
• "It has an amazing view of the river from a large glass window."
• "Surprising and interesting experience, nice setting on the river Wear."

Cons:

• "The walkway around the workshops is no longer existing or no longer open to the public."
• "It's quite nice the place isn't really that big there's a few things to do inside but not the best."
• "Not a lot going on in the centre, small exhibition on glass through the years."
• "Disappointing. Not at all what we expected. Huge space with a ground floor cafe and tables on the terrace looking onto the industrial river views but we only found a handful of exhibits on display."
• "Two of the main exhibition suites were empty and the main exhibition of 'confluence' only had a few exhibits in it."
• "Who's responsible for the upkeep of this building? Inside, great, staff, great, ....... outside? It's a mess, rusty exterior, and broken or cracked glass tiles on the roof."
• "Honestly not that impressed. More cafe and shop than anything else."

Staff & Service

Pros:

• "The staff are first class as is the food and coffee."
• "Excellent cafe with a good menu, excellent service."
• "Friendly helpful staff."
• "The staff there are very helpful and will always visit in the summer holidays as has some great things on to keep the kids entertained."
• "The staff were polite and friendly."
• "Staff were very efficient and my lunch was very delicious."
• "Great staff. Really nicely presented and laid out. Friendly staff."

Cons:

• "Cafe food nice but overpriced, with counter staff a bit blunt."
• "Told we weren't allowed to move an additional chair and had to stand to have my coffee whilst I waited for food."
• "The car parking charge is RIDICULOUS and it has certainly put us off visiting in the near future."
• "Cafe wasn't good. Delayed service, food served lukewarm, not as described on menu & veg was practically raw."
• "All staff were utter bell***s to everyone that came in."
• "The staff in the restaurant are hapless and hopeless."
• "Disgraceful cafe. Rude to every customer we saw whilst waiting our hour and half for a jacket potato."

Exhibitions & Demonstrations

Pros:

• "A really great museum. Wonderful exhibitions of modern glass."
• "Fantastic venue for learning all you need to know about the history of glass making in the Northeast."
• "There's some amazing pieces of glassware in the exhibition."
• "Interesting displays showcasing history of glass as a major source of revenue, as well as many latest art pieces."
• "Wonderful displays of glass working (lathe and blowing) with beautiful pieces available to buy."
• "Very interesting opportunity to see glass blowing, demonstration was amazing."
• "The display exhibits were lovely and we were able to see the current exhibition and glass making demonstrations, which were really inspiring."

Cons:

• "Though it is difficult to visit here and not feel a great pang of sadness over the loss of the shipbuilding and the glass industry in the area."
• "Was ok, could of been a little better presented and would of been nice if there was more of there own products in the shop and if the demos were a little more frequent."
• "Expected to see more of an array of exciting glass products - stained glass would be nice to see and some colourful large scale impressive pieces."
• "It's interesting for an hour at most, however it's much smaller than expected and has far fewer exhibits than I would expect of a 'national centre' with a lot of wasted space."
• "The place has real possibilities for a great day out, however when we visited the glass blowing and other demos were not available, despite what their website said."
• "The glass blowing display was interesting, but I think my kids were a little bored."
• "Nice exhibition on, but it was a tactile exhibition with no touching allowed... Whilst I understand why, it's frustrating not to be able to touch."

Accessibility & Facilities

Pros:

• "It is end to end accessible friendly with accessible path, lift, access throughout the building with ramps and even accessible friendly toilets with diaper changing room n cafe!"
• "The whole set-up just perfect. Highly recommended oh and very accessible by wheelchair."
• "Toilet facilities clean. Suitable for disabled and wheelchairs."
• "Good facilities for wheelchair users."
• "Long ramp down to the centre which does have lifts so ok for wheel chair users."
• "This centre is fully accessible and all the staff are friendly and helpful."
• "Free entry and free parking, there are always interesting exhibitions on."

Cons:

• "The car parking charge is RIDICULOUS and it has certainly put us off visiting in the near future."
• "They now however charge you for parking."
• "Still think paying over £5 for parking on top of £40 for workshop is shocking will not be returning here for any workshops."
• "Parking cost to add onto visit and watch as no money machines n you get slammed if you go to the university car parks n realise you don't know how to pay."
• "Both times the car park payment meter was broken."
• "Car Parking was ample but fee information needs to be clearly shown at pay station."
• "A further star is removed because they do not accept cash."