Developing a successful Play Environment

Indoor contained play (soft play) is now a well-established concept in the UK and can found in a range of venues serving a number of purposes, from small fast food restaurants through to medium general leisure facilities and beyond to large privately owned and operated family entertainment centres.

The purpose of play is to provide a stimulating environment for children to develop their physical and mental skills in a parent supervised environment, in which the carer can interact with the children or merely relax, kick back and enjoy time to themselves.

Increasingly, play facilities are being developed in general leisure facilities where the focus is not absolutely to create a cost/profit centre but to maintain/improve adult attendance by providing improved children’s facilities.

Quite often an infrequently used and therefore low income generating area within a leisure centre eg, squash court, sports hall will be converted to an income generating play facility and café. The area will therefore benefit by attracting income from the primary spend on play and parties together with secondary secondary spend on food and drink.

As with any new opportunity, the assessment of commercial feasibility, overall product offering both for children and adults, general layout of the area to ensure security and customer satisfaction, understanding the operational requirements of the business, are all important factors are all factors to take into account.