Up at the O2 Wheelchair Climb

Last Updated on 23/07/2025 by Alex Squire

The O2 Arena in London, is 52 m high, and the other day I climbed over it. Yes, real

For those who are unaware, the O2 Arena used to be called the Millennium Dome until about 2004. Then it was converted into an entertainment complex featuring an arena at its centre, a shopping centre, restaurants, bars, a cinema, and other entertainment facilities.

One of the things you can do there is climb over the top of the building. It’s called Up at the O2, and they offer climbs for both able-bodied people and those in wheelchairs, which is what I did. It was an awesome experience and in this post I will tell you all about it.

However, I’d like to start by telling you about the frustrating experience I had at the O2 Arena the night before.

O2 Arena shenanigans

We had dinner in the O2 Arena the night before our climb, and then I needed to find a changing places toilet. I knew there was one in the O2 Arena somewhere, but I wasn’t sure where. It wasn’t marked on any of the maps, which did not help.

Eventually, after some fruitless wandering around and searching, we asked one of the security staff to take us to one, which they did.

However, after much trying, the key would not open the door. So by this time, we had been wandering around for about an hour, and now we couldn’t even get into the toilet once we had found it. Then, we went to a different changing place toilet, which was located on a different floor. This involved going through the back ways of the O2, including past the dressing rooms, which was interesting. There were signed memorabilia on the walls along the entire corridor, from bands that had played there.

Eventually, we arrived at the other changing places toilet and we could get into it thankfully. The ceiling hoist worked, but the insulation from the wire was falling apart, and the wire itself was exposed, which is obviously dangerous. So not only were the toilets not marked on any map and were hard to find, they were obviously not well-maintained either. I sent an email to O2 to complain, and this is what they said:

I’m sorry for the time it took to locate our Changing Places bathroom and for the maintenance issue you experienced when using the Changing Places space on Level 1.

I have asked our Building Services team to investigate the disrepair of the hoist equipment as a matter of urgency. I’ll be investigating why the issue wasn’t picked up in our daily checks of arena facilities.

In addition, there is a project to update our wayfinding and online maps with icons for Changing Places which is due to go live imminently. I’ll ensure this process is expediated based on your feedback. The map will be available on our website, through the Virtual Assistant (website and app) and printed out as hard copy at our Guest Services desks.

Thank you for providing this feedback and for highlighting that the team on site supported you. Please accept my sincere apologise for the time taken to locate the bathrooms and for the way in which you found the equipment.

Up at the O2

I went with my carer and two other friends, so there were 4 of us in the group in total. However you can go with up to 9 other people on your climb if you wanted to.

We stayed overnight at the Travelodge London Docklands Central, which is literally just across the river from the O2 Arena. The hotel room was decent but nothing special. The best thing about it was the view though. There was a big floor-to-ceiling window with a view across London towards the O2 Arena – I was on the 17th floor.

We had to be at the dome for 8:45 AM to start the climb at 9 AM, which is why we had to stay overnight. After a short safety briefing, we went to get kitted up. I had to wear a harness and be transferred into a padded manual chair.

They had a changing places toilet with a ceiling hoist in it, so I was able to be hoisted out of my power chair into a manual chair to go on a climb.

Once we were all kitted up, we went up in the lift to a platform where the walkway started. We were attached to a metal cable using a carabiner that ran along the entire walkway.

A system of ropes and pulleys pulled me up the walkway and over the dome. 4 staff members came with us to help as we began our ascent. All of them were friendly and professional, and I felt we were in good hands.

The steepest part of the climb is 30°. So it’s fairly steep, and I was looking at the bright blue sky.

As we ascended, I could see the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to my side, but they were tilted at an angle, which provided a novel viewpoint.

In the middle of the dome, there is a raised circular metal platform which is 12 m across. Once here we could unclip ourselves and enjoy the view and take photos. There were some information boards around the edge telling you about the buildings that you could see.

We stayed on the platform for about 20 minutes before beginning our descent down the other side.

I didn’t enjoy the descent as much because the sun was directly in my face. I had to look straight up because I couldn’t hold my head forward. So to avoid blinding myself, I got someone to cover my face with my Baseball cap.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that they decided to take a photo of the group going down. It’s not a very flattering one of me, as you can see below! My face is a bit of a grimace from screwing my eyes up.

But they did take lots of other photos which we could buy afterwards which was nice. I bought a package for £30 which included 3 photo booklets, with a big print out in each, fridge magnets and keyrings.

I would definitely recommend doing a climb over the O2. You get a great view over London plus wheelchair users can do it to which is great. In all the climb took about 3 hours, including 20 minutes on the platform at the top.

Conclusion

If you find yourself in London, then why not check out Up at the O2. It’s accessible to both able-bodied and wheelchair users, offering a unique perspective on London, literally. Also the staff were great and very friendly, so what’s not to like! Just make sure you take your sunglasses and a hat if it’s a sunny day!