How to make your visit to the centre easier

We understand that visiting a shopping centre can be a daunting experience for some of our customers with autism, dementia or those who need extra assistance, so we’re adding in new ways to help your visit and experience.

We offer the following to our customers:

Assistance dogs

Like most public buildings, The Trafford Centre welcomes assistance dogs. If your dog does not wear a high-vis jacket or harness, it is sometimes difficult for our staff to recognise the difference between assistance dogs and pets, which are not allowed in our centres.

To ensure a smooth shopping trip and make it easier for our staff to identify assistance dogs, we recommend you visit our customer information desk to collect a sunflower-design lead sleeve for your dog. This lead sleeve simply slides over your dog’s lead and enables our staff to identify your dog as an assistance dog whilst you are shopping with us. Shoppers are invited to keep this lead sleeve and use it whenever they are in the centre.

Our terms and conditions for assistance dogs are:

• will not wander freely around the premises
  
• will sit or lie quietly on the floor next to their owner
  
• are unlikely to foul in a public place
  
• access to assistance dogs is on a one dog per handler basis
  

Hidden disabilities lanyards and stickers

For shoppers that require additional assistance when shopping at intu or have hidden disabilities, and wish to identify themselves, we also offer a lanyard or sticker. These lanyards/stickers are available from our customer service desk. Parents and carers can choose between a sticker or lanyard depending on their requirements.

Autism awareness - quiet hours

For some people, shopping centres can be a stressful experience. If you see, hear, or feel the world in a different way, we'll be making simple steps to improve the shopping experience for our customers throughout the year with our Quiet Hours.

The Trafford Centre introduced a ‘Quiet Hour’ initiative in 2017 offering families a more relaxed environment with low music, dimmed lights, and useful shopping guides. This takes place every Wednesday between 10am-11am.

From autism to dementia, this hour is for anyone who prefers a more quiet setting within The Trafford Centre.