Soft play centre industry is at 'breaking point' as they remain closed during coronavirus lockdown

Protests have been taking place and thousands have signed petitions to allow the play areas to re-open.

In his announcement Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "From August 1, we will re-open most remaining leisure settings, namely bowling, skating rinks, casinos and we will enable close contact services, beauticians to resume.

"Nightclubs, soft play areas, sadly, need to remain closed for now, although this will be kept under review."

Richard Sharp, owner of Squiggles Playden in Hucknall and Playmania in Mansfield, said: “The soft play industry is now reaching breaking point, with zero income since mid-March, and any grant money received, swallowed up by rental payments and refunds to customers that had parties booked.

“We still have been given no date to work to, and no indication of any further funding for our industry.

“We are in a complete state of limbo, as we can’t plan anything without a date.

“We don’t know how much debt we will have to go in to before we can open again.

“Something has to be sorted out, we have to have guidance now.

“Soft play centres play vital parts within their local communities and are much loved by young families and must be saved.

“Most soft play centres are family run, small businesses that can not sustain such a prolonged period with no income, we need help now.

“I genuinely can see no reason to keep us closed any longer, when everything else is now open.

“It appears to us owners that the decision makers do not actually fully understand what soft play centres are, how clean the better ones are, and how they can be adapted to be fully Covid 19 secure.

"I would just like somebody to stand up for us and get us a date, or further help, as it is simply not fair that we are still not open, when it is entirely plausible for us to open in a Covid 19 secure way.

“A whole industry can not be allowed to disappear through nobody’s fault, when this can be easily sorted out either through re-opening or further funding.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor