new to mumsnet - what do you think to indoor play areas?

[MDEE]

Just a curious question to get a little information to help me in a proposal that I am hoping to set up.
I am a mum of an 18 month old little girl that is into everything. The problem at the moment is keeping her stimulated and free from boredom. I live in the Tamworth area and am having trouble finding suitable places (especially indoor play areas) that cater for her young age.
This has prompted me with an idea...but I need to do a little research before hand.
What do you want from an indoor/outdoor play area for both children and parents?

Friendly and welcoming atmosphere with no cliques for both kids and adults.

Music and physical activities to tire the kids out incorporating learning. Therefore, mini trampoline can be used to show how frogs jump and when the kids get on it they can show you how frogs jump, tunnels for them to go through and pretend they are snakes, climbing frames to be monkeys and so on.

Anything to keep them limber, get them excited about physical activity and start understanding how their body works.

As a mum I would like somewhere that had good quality coffee for the end of the session with a large seating area for us, kids and prams.

Oh yeah, ability to park prams easily whilst kids are playing. There is never enough room for prams generally.

Singing and dancing to be included as all kids love this and once again they are being physical and learning about their bodies, spacial awareness and so on.

Somewhere that encourages mums to join in.

Nice coffee.
Newspapers.
Not too expensive to get in.
Indoor part needs to be airy and spacious with no smell of sweaty feet and trainers.
Comfy chairs.
Leaflets and information for parents.
Friendly staff who genuinely like children.
No parents joining in unless strictly necessary or desired.
No slot machine Postman Pat/Bob the builder/Noddy/Other rides to eat all my money up while the "free" play equipment is ignored.
Play equipment that is accessible to all as well as physically challenging for a range of ages and abilities.
Secure, safe space that kids can't escape from.
Baby area so the littlies don't get trampled by the bigger boisterous kids or different sessions for different age groups, though the latter makes it harder for parents with more than one child- so few places seem to realise that both age groups have needs and it's unfair on everyone to shove them all in together and expect good behaviour from older ones in a space that says "run, jump, climb and go mental".
Maybe a separate area with quieter stuff- art activites and a book corner?

Thanx for the replies so far...(meanmum & scrummymummy).

Why is it that the people that run these places don't ever consider any of this?

Money. Everything comes down to cost. I have no issue in paying if I think I am getting value for money.

I agree with some of scummymummy's comments. Ideally I would love to be able to leave my child to run and jump while I have a peaceful coffee or three but I don't know how you would manage this in terms of minders etc.

There's a fantastic one in Croydon - super facilities, comfy sofas, lovely coffee BUT the staff are a bit off, the food takes ages to arrive (over an hour and a half on one occasion) and there is an area where toddlers can unzip the netting and escape behind the equipment.

It would be good if they provided slipper type things for the children to wear as you CAN'T keep socks on a 2yo!!

Can I get the name of the one in Croydon? Do they do weekends which is all I have with my ds.

Two other points:
-cleanliness (for example, an enforced rule about not eating in the play area. Little bits of crisps in the ball court=yuck)
-enforced no-violence policy. One boy at our local play area was walloping the cr*p out of ds and any other child who approached him. His nanny didn't care, and nor did anyone who worked there.

Hi MDEE, there was a thread about this a while ago with loads of ideas on it I think. I'll see if I can find it for you.

It was here but wasn't as full as I thought. There may be more if you do a search on anniep.

Meanmum, it's called Play Town, in what used to be the Grants department store. If you do a Google search it should come up (I can't do links today!!). I went there not long after it opened for a kids party and wasn't overly impressed with the party food nor the staffs "can't be bothered" attitude, but as Soupdragon said, the sofas are VERY comfy!!!

Jodee, the staff certainly can be bothered if your child dares remove their socks! They swoop in for the kill within seconds

Somewhere I don't have to drive to.

We have a v. large soft play centre in Burgess Hill called, CJ's, it is open 7 days a week and is always busy. There are 3 diff children's areas; crawlers, under 4's and then this huge 4 story one for older children and acompanied under 4's. There are also coffee lounges (with sofas & screens to keep an eye on the children). They offer parties and also sometimes have the staff do sing songs. Fantastic fun.