private members' club for families

[pippiLS]

So do you think £10 per week for access to a stylish child-friendly club (with tasteful soft play areas etc) is a big ask?

DH thinks it's too much and no none would pay it whereas I think £520 for annual membership of a place where people with babies/toddlers go and meet other mums/dads/nannies, have a decent coffee (maybe even a tasty, healthy lunch), relax in comfort and attend classes with their little ones is an OK price to pay.

Am I being unreasonable to be considering opening such a place as a business venture?

Wrt comparing a school with a small business - a school, I assume, has a pretty chunky guaranteed minimum income from the LA. There may be actions you can take to increase this but the bulk of costs are covered from this. That's what you don't have in a small business - you have the costs without the income.

plus Ca, I had thought about cliques and fall-outs but not about a lower number of members exacerbating it.

I could be way of the mark with my vision of 100 families (membership to include grandparents/carers/nannies and all children). We have a few nice spas and gyms around and I was thinking of visiting for a look around and asking questions about number of members etc.

I used to manage a very nice spa. Our membership when I left was 1150.

Yep TheDoctrine, costs without the income. I don't like the thought of fitting in with someone else's franchise idea as I'm not really that keen on those types of activities. I like something a bit different. I could run classes in a few subject areas but I want a bigger challenge.

Not saying you have to do the franchise forever, just to gain more experience and local contacts. Tumble tots attendees keep going for years, often - if my Tumbletots teacher told me after I'd been going a while that she was starting a new business and would be holding the classes there but also doing lots of other things, i would be more inclined to check it out.

Right well I'm picking holes now I know, but there are a few car parks in town and they're not too expensive. That may be the case today, but there is absolutely no guarantee that it will continue to be so.

Details like that can make or break any venture - alone they're not enough to make something unworkable but add a few fairly minor adverse variables to the mix and things get very tricky indeed.

Have you looked at what some of the community halls near you offer? Community halls in naice areas especially? You will be competing against courses run at venues like this and also competing to attract the same instructors to actually run those classes. What can you offer them and their clients that a fairly cheap hall can't?

Doctrine is absolutely right about trying a franchise for a while. If anything you might realise that you fucking hate spending hour after hour in the company of hipster parents and toddlers!

So, this isn't an AIBU but a thinly veiled attempt at free research?

I don't think so, owl - think it's turned out that way!

Doctrine I have a few ideas for how one might babysign "hipster"

OP you need to look at arts centres , more traditional galleries and theatres too. All these places offer more than you ever much could.

OP is totally after free market research, Owl. It's been interesting though.

Johnny, New Oriel Hall looks amazing and it's run by only 2 part-time members of staff with the rest volunteering. I like the idea of a book club and was thinking about something like that for 'my' club as a way of making sure members drop by. I was also thinking of things like having a Boden party onsite food the same reason.

Ok, so New Oriel Hall is more of a social enterprise then?

Owl this thread has been amazing. I had no agenda when I started it other than to see if £10 per week was an unreasonable ask. We pay £30 per month just to have a harp sitting in our living room (one of the DC plays) so I don't really have any perspective. What I thought was that with 3 DC I pay £160 per term for a weekly 30 minute swimming lesson and I loath every minute of taking the kids there. What I am proposing as my membership fee is a similar amount but would offer a heck of a lot more. I have been most surprised by how many people seem perfectly happy with their current provision.

Boden party? You'd lose a lot of interest from some the minute that phrase trots out.

Sorry, can't even take this seriously now.

I think key to this OP is that if you are in a "posh" area then the playgroups in the church hall, story time at the library, even the park are all pretty "posh" anyway. If you are in a poorer area then there won't be the money to spend so it's a bit of a catch 22. DH and I used to laugh that where we live the one o'clock clubs were the biggest Sloane gatherings south of the river and really shouldn't have been funded by the LEA - they aren't any more.

There are so many other things one can do for next to nothing and those other things provide variety that I just don't see it. People with money join a sports club in London, play tennis and bung their children into the creche. There are a few family days thrown in across the year and a few things put on for mums and littlies but the same families still do the other variety stuff that's available.

But your kids are learning to swim. Hanging out at the local swimming pool isn't fun but it's a necessary evil if you want them to swim. Your club isn't going to be an alternative to this.

What you seem to be proposing is a cafe, soft play centre with rooms for classes and a lovely aesthetically pleasing ambience, with the last being most important to you. But toddlers and nice soft furnishings are not a happy mix.

I think you actually want something for parents to hang out in but figure you'll have to have something for children to make the parents come. Thr children's element doesn't seem compelling.

New Oriel Hall is a community centre - a church hall without the church if you like. It's a charity. It's hired out to groups a good 12 hours a day and also for weddings at the weekends, evening events and so on. The staff administer it - they don't run the groups or organise the events (to the best of my knowledge that is).

But you won't have a pool and dc will still need swimming lessons. I'd prioritise something that would stop my children drowning.

In the nicest way, UK parents don't need more lovely cupcake and bunting, "gorgeous things" ventures - what we really have a shortage of is:

• good quality affordable childcare
• teachers and school places
• sports facilities and training

You have relevant qualifications in one of the above and transferable skills in at least one other. Why not use your qualifications and experience to look at these avenues?

OP, sounds like you have lovely ideas and a vision of how this would be but sadly a lovely idea does not make a business. Even if you had millions to invest in this I think you would lose all your money quite quickly.
Your idealism does not translate to a viable business that would pay staff wages and give you a living as well ( if you need it).
You keep talking about what YOU want and how YOU see the venture turning out but you aren't the one who would be deciding to use this so called private members club.
Please take all the advice given on here which has been mostly constructive and find something else to do and keep your dream as just a dream because that's what it is - not a sound business idea.

I would probably prefer to pay more but get more included, or if there was something like book a class stay after for a free coffee type thing. I did used to spend really a lot a week on activities for DC and I when my DC were pre school (about £100 a week years ago). I also liked something planned each day and found it easier to be out the house with little ones than in so I get all that aspect of your idea. I think you would need stuff for parents to do and a school holiday plan. If you were opening up near me I would choose a posh health club membership such as David Lloyd over your club. Although my DC are older I probably am speaking as a former target person as £10 a week doesn't sound much to me. I paid out a lot of money to get the week running smoothly and the DC and me happy.

I've been reading some Gymboree threads on here and people seem to really rate it (not everyone) and don't mind forking out >£10 per week for just the class and the option to drop-in anytime. Maybe that's a better way to go than a members club where it appears people will expect to see lots of staff and be able to buy food at a reduced price. Do these Gymboree type places sell food?

The one I went to didn't sell food but it was in a shopping centre with lots of usual suspects for kid friendly meals - zizzi, gbk wags etc.

My SIL's local Gymboree has food but I think it's a "chill counter" type thing rather than a kitchen - so the food may be 100% bought in which of course reduces staff costs (though isn't as naice). Another small soft play near her has an arrangement with the pub down the road to bring hot food in. I dunno how they've made the food hygeine work on that though!!