to think it would be a good idea if large supermatkeys provided a creche to enable busy parents to do their grocery shopping?

[SoleSource]

I used to use the gym creche for my disabled baby at Fitness First gym. They were great, clean, trustworthy and cheap. A whole two hours of man ogling :)

I should add that when I worked in Safeway not everyone had mobile phones like we all do now - so if a parent buggered off went off site they weren't always contactable.

Where next? Creches in the hairdressers?

Sorry, I'm being a bit sarcastic. It just amazes me sometimes to see people wanting creches in supermarkets, banks, gyms, cinemas... How on earth did we cope for the last few decades without such things and online deliveries?

My DS is fourteen. Just thought some might prefer the.option, occadionally. Wondered why there aren't many about.

Creches in the cinema would be a good idea, they could have vibrating pagers to give to the parents so that they could be contacted if needed during the film without disturbing other viewers.

I;m sure our local 'big' tesco still has their creche. I used it last year for the big christmas shop. Was awesome.

if parents leaving without children was a concern i'm sure there is something they could be given like a buzzer that went off if they went through the doors without collecting the dcs. or they could ask parents to put down a deposit and limit creche time to 60 minutes or something. make the deposit a good bit more than what the creche time costs so that if they dont come back within the time they lose the deposit.

Our asda has one but they don't run it they rent the unit out to a company that do. It's great!

madness!!!!! noone will agree it due to H&S issues

I would NOT leave my precious ones in one

As a single parent, provision of things like this would make my life a hell of a lot easier.

One of my enduring childhood memories is the boredom of being dragged shopping with my parents and siblings. Worst was sofa shopping or car shopping.

Some used to but I think once they had to be Ofsted registered and CRB checked it became too much bother. I remember large shopping Malls having them too.
However my local leisure centre does sometimes allow use of the creche for a fee for those doing up to 4 hours shopping.

Oh for one to be at the cinema

They do this in shopping centres/malls in the UAE. Big crèches and play areas with the most incredible facilities and loads of staff I couldn't do it though even though my dc were nagging to go in. Sure it was totally safe but I didn't feel comfortable with it.

Safeways used to have crèches in their larger stores about 15 years ago. They were originally set up as a 'loss leader' as in they charged a small amount but hoped it would encourage parents to spend more in the shop and then maybe have a quick trip to the coffe shop to finish the hour up. In the end they had to put the prices up to cover some of the outgoings as having the correctly trained staff and proper ratios cost a fair bit. They closed them all down probably 10 or so years ago.

It could then be plausible to set something up in town centres and shopping centres independently to allow for this, which could be run as you might a normal creche or nursery, but aimed at allowing parents to shop while their children are being cared for?

Yeah Rabbits. Easyjet people could set them up :)

Victoria Centre in Nottingham used to have a creche thing - I don't know how much it cost, because I was never in the position to use it, but you could leave your kids there for 2 hours.

I don't know if it's still there, but it's a fabulous idea.

it probably would only work in bigger supermarkets, though.

What Yousankmybattleship said on P1.

Lots of supermarkets tried this when my dc were little (before we had the option of internet shopping and home delivery), but the whole CRB checking which has come in since, and all the H&S regs make it a nightmare.

When our local mall opened (pre-DD) it had one of these but it quickly closed down because no-one would use it.

Mind you, it didn't help that the 'jolly jungle' motif they'd used to decorate it meant that it looked like your kids were being swallowed by a tiger as they entered the place....

Exactly what goldenlula said.
Also, the rise in internet shopping/home delivery meant that the demand for creches in supermarkets was more than decimated. Hence even less profitable, and the space can be used for many many more (profitable) things.

All staff had to be qualified and police checked, there always had to be a minimum of 2 staff on duty so on quiet times 2 staff were paid to do nothing. I am pretty sure the crèches at Safeway closed before the CRB checks came in, it was just decided that the space could be put to better financial use (an electrical shop was set up in ours).

The Mall at Cribbs Causeway has a creche. It is expensive but the one time I had loads to do it was heaven not dragging a 4 yo around with me, and she didn't want to come out. She asks to go back in every time we go over there.

The big Tesco in Cardiff used to do this years ago (before internet shopping). Security was very tight and there were time and number of children limits. It was very helpful. Not free, but not hideously expensive either.

Ryanair could set one up. "...and another £3 if you want him back with legs on..."

Morrisons used to do one I'm sure, but it was Safeway then, I was dropped of in it a few times. A few Asda's still do it I think.