To think £3.50 for a Caramel Slice is extortionate, even for Soft Play?!

[MotherofaSurvivor]

Currently at a new, rather 'trendy' children's play centre (can't really call it soft play as nothing is really that soft! All trendy wooden shelves to climb on instead of foam steps etc ).

Very odd but my little one likes it.

I'm really short on cash at mo but thought I could stretch to coming here, despite knowing it was half term. (My child isn't of school age).

Prices gone up from £4 to £6 for a 2yr old and (£5 per adult) because of Half Term........ Annoying but fair enough. They have a business to run.

Get to ordering a cuppa (can't come without getting a brew! That would be torture!!) - £3.50 Caramel Slice - £3.50..... I nearly fainted. Instead I ordered some hot Ribena @ £1.20 and a Unicorn shaped Shortbread @ £1.70 & made do. Was quite nice to be fair.

They've actually put the prices up of food & drink by at least 40% by my reckoning.

AIBU to think they're taking advantage of Mums desperate to run their kid's energy off but whom don't have the funds to pay what is probably a pittance for Boden-clad gang?

Before I get flamed, I totally get that they have overheads to pay and it's perfectly normal practise to increase the entry fee slightly during school holidays but £18 for my daughter to go down two slides, a quick go on a tethered indoor swing and....well that's it. A cuppa and a caramel slice for me (If I'd succumbed and paid the price they were asking) £18??

I'd say expensive for a drink, about what I'd expect to pay for cake but am amazed they charged adult entry.
Local soft plays to me would not be happy if you took your own food/drink in. I haven't been for a while as DD too old now but have seen people asked not to consume their own food in the cafes.

I paid £30 odd quid to get my two into soft play last week. Adults had to pay too. It wasn’t half term and we had no choice as we’d travelled to meet a friend. I was livid. And it was crap.

Yanbu! Even for my town that is expensive.
£3.50 would get a large slice of cake, around £2 for a caramel slice.

I remember last summer I took the dc to a really nice park in the midst of yummy mummy land. Forgot my lunch as usual but thought I'd try the cafe in the park.
£5 for half a sandwich I was just
I was meh about £5 anyway buto when they presented me with the half sandwich I was just appalled.

no one is forcing you to go

I never understand these complaints. They are running a business. If they overcharge, customers will vote with their feet.

Bloody hell, I thought ours were only just not cheeky charging £1.50 for a decent size piece which I knew was one of a pack of four from Aldi (89p IIRC) and hell yes I paid and it was delicious. £3.50 for half that and I'd have laughed out loud. £3.50 for a cup (not even pot) of tea is absolutely taking the piss.

Surely you either charge adult entry or have overpriced cafe. Doing both seems a bit of a piss-take.

If you price things properly you get a steady stream of people through the doors having cup after cup and cake after cake and hell why don't we stay for lunch since it's nearly twelve. If you overprice then people sneak in their own Pom Bears and you actually make less overall.

They charge GROWN UPs a fiver to get in?! I'd have been running round on the climbing stuff and weeing in the ball pool for that price.

You ain't wrong though.

In my experience, everything is expensive these days. Just cost me £25 to go to the cinema with my two small kids. I realise it's been a while since I've last been, but £25?! Add in food, drinks, snacks, babysitter....How on earth is going to the cinema a cheap trip anymore?

Wonder whereabouts you are OP? North Oxfordshire here and it's £2.75 for a ''large'' hot chocolate (costa machine) and £3.50 for a muffin at my local SP. The muffin, to be fair, is bloody ginormous and almost too much even for me in one sitting. (i'm a piggy).

Ours lets one adult in for free with the child and charges any extra adults £1 each. Then each extra adult gets a ticket for their pound back if they buy something at the cafe. My 4 year old gets in for £6 off peak.

So i'm looking at a tenner for her entry and my hot choc. Not cheap then - but cheaper than OPs one. Our place is very good, massive and spotless.

I never understand these complaints.

I never understand why someone frequents boards like AIBU which are full of inane musings if they don’t like posts like this. Maybe the poster asked to gauge how everyone else felt, as it may well be the case that actually it’s not considered expensive. She wouldn’t know without asking the question.

Make your own tray bake caramel slice and sneak one along. It wouldn't cost much more in ingredients and you'd have a load for the rest of the week.

I love a caramel slice

wonderlime - i agree! I love AIBU precisely because i love listening to complaints and sitting back watching the bun fight ensue

What else is AIBU except exactly that?

I don't understand these complaints either. I do get that people find things too expensive, but you can apply that to anything. It's supply and demand, if customers are happy to pay these costs, why shouldn't they charge more and the business make more profit?

Bringing your own food should get you kicked out frankly. If you don't like the place, go somewhere else. Prices go up because of the cheapskates who think they are clever and bring their own. If too many people do that, and the business doesn't want to kick a fuss and throw the CF out, they start charging adults too for entrance. Well done.

@WonderLime - I love an inane musing

of course on AIBU there'll be a variety of views. I'm just particularly surprised when the price of something non-essential warrants these complaints.

so think of my reply as my own inane musing

Adults don't pay at my local massive softplay, it's 6.00 to get in including meal and drink for dd.

This is the second £3.50 cake rant I’ve read today. Surely you just vote with your feet, if you think it’s too much?

The local marketplace will dictate the price. If the soft play/cafe market locally will sustain charging that much, the price is fine. If it won’t, people won’t buy them and the price will go down. If everyone does as you did and refuses to buy tea and caramel slice at those prices they will have to review their pricing. But assuming they’ve done their research locally, they aren’t doing anything wrong setting their prices that high.

cake rant

where abouts in the country are you

id vote with your feet i dont even pay that in the se for a cake

I use 2 small independent cafés that need every penny they can make. Both sell gorgeous locally made cakes from small bakers. None are more than £2.50 and the slices are huge.
For people with more than one child that play place will soon price itself out of existence, being trendy is no excuse for charging adults admission.

£5 for an adult to get in?! [Staggers around clutching head in horror]

You'd have to pay me a fiver to get me into soft play during halfterm - dear god. That's ridiculous. Never mind £3.50 for a caramel slice that you won't get to enjoy anyway because your dc will get stuck on a slide or need a wee or will just out and out mug you for it.

BarbaraofSeville We're actually in same town as Betty's! It's Yorkshire tea which is same company as Betty's. Only round the corner actually x

@BarbaraofSevillle

I can’t understand why you are surprised at an entrance charge for adults?

Go to the cinema to take your child of 5 to see a film and they will charge you, same with baby swimming they charge for the parent to get into the pool and not swim...

But around here at least, you don't pay for the baby to go swimming, you pay for the adult and the baby is free. The cinema is different - the parent watches the film too, and takes up a seat, so of course you pay. What does an adult get out of soft play though, beyond a cracking headache? £5 is outrageous, imo.

If the place is always busy, why shouldn't they charge the parents? It's not a bad idea. Most people seem happy to bring snacks for their kids (or themselves) in a soft play or even a cafe!, so the business might as well make money somewhere.

I can’t understand why you are surprised at an entrance charge for adults?

Because it sounds like a cafe with a few toys rather than a play centre.