Ideal world play centres - have your say!!

[maybecrazy]

Have name changed for this post as I believe owners/ vendors use this board! Am in the process fo buying a large childrens play centre in the north - this is not an area I have a lot of experience in although I d have business experience a 3 young children ... have been visiting places (borrowing ideas, seeingpotential etc and seen some great (and some horribe!) places - have money to invest in new place, quite a few ideas, but want so more real views, ideas, thoughts etc:

1. what would you do/ change to your local play centre to make it better
   
2. what woud you like to see included in indoor play cenres that isnt usually
   
3. what goes on the dreaded menu (and an idea of costs)
   
4. whats acceptable in terms of entry costs (taking my own dc's on research trip has cost me an arm and a leg!
   
5. besides clean loos/ nice food and coffee and clean equipent what makes these slighty dirty places bearable
   
6. any other thoughts/ ideas etc
   
   Do you have fantastic local places that I should include on our list?!
   
   Will of course carry out own research but believe MN to be a fantastic source of info and feel togther we can come up with the perfect recipe.....
   
   Thank you in advance!

[paddyclamp]

Maybe different prices for different age groups. Ours charge up to £4 for DS (aged 3) which i don't really mind but object to paying that for DD who's 1 but not walking yet ( i just tell them she's 11 months!). Some places charge half price for under 2's which is great esp for those of us with more than 1.

One of ours has staff who do things like singing and craft which goes down well with kids.

Quite happy with most of our local places, not been to a bad one yet and we're up north, but it's nice to go to different ones rather than the same ones every wk.

I'm sure there's other stuff - i'll keep thinking!

[TooTicky]

Daylight and decent food. And not smelling of wee.

[j20baby]

i like it when the adults are allowed on the play area, like the big slides

the seats are normally really uncomfortable, nice easy clean but comfy would be good.

[twentypence]

My dream place would be like a private park outside. I would pay money to have no dog poo, no condoms, no graffiti, no bored smoking, wearing teenagers, and no flying ruby balls etc.

[TooTicky]

Ruby balls? Wow, you must live in an affluent area

[twentypence]

Yeah, I don't mind the diamond ones, but the ruby are just a PITA

[ThisIsDavinaPleaseDoNotSwear]

Maybe, are you sure you want to go ahead with this?

In my local area I can think of at least 3 indoor play areas that are closing or talking to liquidators.

All 3 of them are excellent with new facilities excellent food, large comfy sofa's, great coffe for parents and newspapers etc. The staff in all 3 venues are very professional and they offer a full range of services such as birthday parties and discounts during the week.

At weekends, they are usually really busy (unless the weather is good) but for the rest of the week, they are dead.

Sorry to sound so negative but it's sad to see local businesses fail and I know that the owners have invested a lot of money and have been very dedicated.

Why is the playcenter (that you are buying) up for sale? Are you really sure it is viable?

[MilaMae]

I think location is key.

We have one in our local city, always busy. It's great as I can dump dc and dp and go shopping. I just come and collect 1 at a time if we need to buy shoes etc. This particular one is just for 6 and under which I think is also why it's so popular. I hate the ones which cater for older kids too as their parents don't keep an eye on them as they're older which results in older kids dive bombing the under 5s area however much you politely ask them to keep to there own space. As I have 3 under 4 I avoid those kinds of places as I would need tranquilisers if I wanted to stay longer than an hour.

Excellent coffee is important as is cheap, healthy,lovely food. Other toys like cozy coupes are a good idea.

I personally would like to see charges per family as it costs us £7.50 a go due to it being £2.50 a child. If it was £5 a time for all of us I would use it more often. The other idea is to have free play but charge more for food and drinks. Or you could have a loyalty card scheme.

Tables need to be in full view of the whole play area-too stressful otherwise.

[maybecrazy]

Wow! Thanks. Think this is a fantastic way of getting real answers and an idea of what we really think! I think pricing is crucial (too cheap and we'd literally need 1000's of children and too expensive and I think we'd all agree hat noone would turn up! With regard to food thats something I really want to get right (I know the existing menu has been changed, altered and tweaked but is still certainly not right!) want to do something to be able to set this centre apart from others (professional chef, no frying, not re-heated, microwaved etc - anything else?!). Agree that cleanliness (especially loos is important! so will be making a point of doing this (easier said than done).

Thinking about offering a programme of activities perhaps for nursery or pre-school age (as this would be weekday market I guess) - what would go down well with your dc? Sporty things, craft (what are their favourites, water and sand, music, .......) would you pay extra for this or see it as added vale for money and another reason to visit?

Davina: thanks for your points and honesty - this was a hard decision to make and we realise that there are lots of centres that go under fairly early on however well thay are managed, run, designed etc. This is a fourth business venture for dh and I and a new area (we're not relying on it to make millions if you know what I mean!) but want to tap into this market and show it can be done (hence nickname - may indded be totally crackers!) This centre is only being sold because the owners children have outgrown this area and owners are tired (own dc are perfect for it and at the moment dh and I really enthusastic!)

Twenty pence - we are looking at providing an outdoor area too

What are peoples thoughts on summer and play centres? Air con make any difference? Is it worth being open - what else (if anything!) woudl drag you out of your sunny gardens and into some of these dubious smelling places?!!!

Thanks for your ideas - keep them coming!

[blueshoes]

Oooooh, love aircon when it is particularly hot outside. Would definitely visit a nice clean bright playcentre during summer, if it is airconditioned. But I was never one for the heat.

[PartyClown]

Our local place does 2 'toddler' mornings a week where admission is only 5Euro for 2 hours, with free coffee for parents. Admission is normally 7Euro for a (generous) hour.

It gets people in, when business would be slack.

[CuttingCod]

i hate them
they all srat off lal organicy bty then have crap staff and serve crap food

[nannynick]

One near me (in Berkshire) has an enclosed outdoor play area with very high fence. This is great for summer, as indoors can get very hot and the children like playing in the outside park section. They have low level climbing frames and ride on trucks/tractors/cars.

Cost is always going to be an issue... but if you don't charge enough you won't make any profit - or worse, won't have enough to pay staff, rent, rates etc. So really tricky to get that right.

Perhaps having some kind of repeat visitor scheme may be useful - our local swimming pool does that Off Peak, so we buy 5 swims (card stamped and dated each time - all dates must be different) and get 6th visit free. That then helps them have more customers during off peak period - after all they still have the same staff wages to pay, regardless of how many people are there.

Also if you are not buying existing premises, then when selecting your premises (to rent I would presume) see if you can find somewhere which is walkable by some of the likely visitors - then offer those families who Don't Come By Car - an incentive scheme, could be your Green Policy... council planning may like that idea.

[potoftea]

The staff are important too. I remember going to our local one when my dc were little, and seeing the staff who are supervising/walking around, chatting to each other and totally ignoring the children.

At times they didn't even notice when children were hurt or stuck, and the children were a bit scared of them.

Child-friendly people would definetly help the athmosphere.

Also agree with the air-con, and/or natural lighting.

[MrsWho]

One near us does a summer pass scheme, £25 per child for unlimmited play in summer hols and 1/2 price in Spetember, if the kids play they canalso get a voucher for free kids food in the (very nice) restraunt(sp?) downstairs.As its usually £3.50 its worth getting!Also its not timed unless they are very busy.

Jugs of pop/water are usually popular rather than keep getting cups all the time.

They do party/themed evenings £5 per child for a play/tea/games

[MrsWho]

ANd a kid was in there that kept biting other kids and generally being rough, Mum was ignoring him and after they were warned , staff asked them to leave.

[gess]

separate sessions for children with SN's.

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

Non of that deep fat fryer smell .

More staff actually playing and able to enjoy themselves - our local ones usually have quite miserable faces and there is never enough staff at lunchtimes. Would insurance/law allow you to invite nursery students etc to come and help out in return for a free meal and drinks perhaps?

Clean accessible toilets inc a yearly repaint.
If you can't get an outdoor area, some of the big industrial unit ones can peel open a section of wall on hot days, with a childproof inner wall obviously.

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

ooh and Starbucks/Costa style coffee variety.

[purpleduck]

Clean!!! Clean toilets!!!!

[weepootleflump]

How about a little gift shop selling nice cards and lots of little wooden toys/mobiles/bookends... basically things that make nice gifts, a lot of these are pocket money priced as well.

[MadamePlatypus]

Booking system for busy periods. My worst play centre experiences have always been when they are over crowded.

[bonkerz]

Good luck with this, id love to do this but not financial option for us.
Locally i have 4 soft play places. one is at the back of a pub. Great for under 5s but not ok for older, is cheap and offers cheap food.
2 new enterprises have opened. One is large open space, clean etc but doesnt offer food and charges the earth for entry (£4.95 per child) The other is a great little place, Menu is out of this world and cheap BUT only allows 1 hour play at £1.75 per child then £1 per hour after that if not busy!!!

As a childminder we use these places regualrly and i must say we look for cheap entry rates and somewhere with good baby change facilities and also who offer cheap nutritious food. Childminder rates are a way of pulling people in. Our local soft play has just offended the entire local childminder community by offering us a discount rate for play then kicking 50 kids out on street an hour before lunch in the rain just to let 8 children in!!!! not good buisness sense!!!!

1. what would you do/ change to your local play centre to make it better
   CHILDMINDER DISCOUNT RATES APPLIED, MORE NAPPY CHANGING FACILITIES.
   
2. what woud you like to see included in indoor play cenres that isnt usually
   MESSY ACTIVITIES OR TODDLER GROUP
   
3. what goes on the dreaded menu (and an idea of costs)
   JACKET POTATOES, SANDWICHES, PITTA BREADS, SMALL PORTION MEALS UP TO £1.50 PER CHILD.
   
4. whats acceptable in terms of entry costs (taking my own dc's on research trip has cost me an arm and a leg!
   AS A CHILDMINDER I WONT PAY MORE THAN £2 PER CHILD ENTRY FEE. AS A PARENT PROBABLY ABOUT £3 PER CHILD.
   
5. besides clean loos/ nice food and coffee and clean equipent what makes these slighty dirty places bearable
   FRIENDLY HELPFUL STAFF PLUS SOME SORT OF SUPERVISION ON EQUIPMENT ESPECIALLY HARD IF YOU HAVE 2 OR 3 KIDS TO WATCH! THOSE EXTRA EYES REALLY HELP!
   
6. any other thoughts/ ideas etc
   DONT SELL CRISPS AND SWEETS INSTEAD SELL FRUIT SALADS IN POTS AND RAISINS AND FRESH JUICE ETC

[MilaMae]

There is a lovely kids cafe/snack coffeee bar thing next to the lovely play park in brighton on the sea front. They sell basically exactly what I'd like to see in kids places. Lovely fruit bar thing (they can select melon, berries etc), entire Organix range, lovely drinks etc and not an E number in sight. Lovely coffee too. Wasn't too horrendously priced either(mind you we weren't paying).

You need to serve cheap kids food as I refuse to pay for expensive food if I've just spent best part of a tenner to get in. The one I was talking about serves toast for 25p. Additive free food doesn't need to be expensive. No chocolate bars or sweets at all. Flapjack, boxes of raisins etc.

[Pixel]

I second Gess's (no pun intended!) suggestion of SN sessions but it would be nice if just for a change they weren't first thing on a sunday morning when the last place I'd want to be is in a soft play centre (or anywhere that required me to be dressed and out the door). I'm probably being unreasonable but all our local SN sessions are 9am on Sunday and I always get the niggly feeling that they are only letting us in because no other paying customer would be mad enough and that we should be grateful. Sorry turned into a bit of a moan but an SN session at a different time, even once a month would be much appreciated I'm sure.

Also, can I suggest some gluten and dairy free choices on the menu? It is a nightmare trying to eat out if your child is on any sort of special diet. I once enquired at my local centre about a birthday party for dd and hoped they wouldn't mind if I brought my own food for ds. The owner offered to do the whole party GFCF so that ds wouldn't feel left out which I thought was wonderful and a nice change.