Run Around have marvellous management (Runaround Play Centre (Sheffield))

Member Name: Happyjaw

Product:	Runaround Play Centre (Sheffield)
Date:	11/10/08 (496 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Large play centre for kids with good views from seating

Disadvantages: A few teething problems

I went in here delighted to have discovered a new play centre for my kids to enjoy, a change from the very local Kidz Kingdom.
First of all you sign in, pay your money and then step inside the electronic gate.
The immediate view is clean and bright, there's a space/alien theme which doesn't really work with the title Runaround but looks good enough inside.
On the left is the toddler area which includes a miniature car track with 3 Little Tikes cars but it's very small and there is little room to manouevre.
Beside that is a soft padded area and a small low framed climbing area and double slide for toddlers. There are also over sized Lego blocks for added interest to the soft shapes and figures to climb over.

In the area for older kids there are endless ramps, tunnels and slides to explore, including a quadruple bumpy slide down the middle and a curly snake slide to one side.

There is also a large ball court with basketball nets and a variety of balls and space for the kids to run about.

There are several bright red sofas with low coffee tables and then a whole selection of cafe tables and chairs to seat around 170 in total.

There are 3 ladies toilets, 1 gents loo and 2 urinals in the fairly clean loo's, but to serve the full compliment of seating, perhaps a little on the ambitious side. There are step stools in the loo's to assist the younger clientele.

There are around 40 parking spaces, 4 are specifically disabled spaces.

There is a mezzanine level for parties, the top of the area can be seen but at a guess you would not be able to see the guests, though certainly hear them.

When we arrived it was 4.25 pm and we were told that the full price of £4.25 each still applied, at the elevated weekend rate even though we would get less than the time we were paying for, 2 hours. There was no apology, no reason, nothing. I commented that as new customers that was an incredible way to impress us on our first visit. The woman at the counter then offered us two free stamps on a loyalty card, which means if we keep going back we'll get a free play session sooner. I accepted that as better than a kick in the teeth but it seems like poor business to me.

We ordered two cups of tea and two soft drinks, that came to £4.60 and it was only on examination of the menu that I saw a pot of tea would have been £1 less, yet no one bothered to mention that when I ordered.

The menu is full of the usual junk, chips, fish fingers, chicken nuggets and burgers - has no one any concept that play centres don't have to be so cheap and nasty, healthy food is something many parents prefer to processed junk at overinflated prices. There are baked potatoes but they are the one concession to healthier food and frankly they bore me silly.

There is however a decent selection of coffees but since it's a kids play centre this is far from the most important.

Notably, it does highlight on the menu that no responsibility will be taken for the food being in contact with nuts. If I was a parent with a child with a severe anaphalactic reaction to nuts, I would simply boycott the place for that. How can anyone order anything at all with that sort of response. There is a friend I know I cannot invite to meet us there as a result as her son would die, very quickly.

The toilets have full length mirrors and I'm reasonably sure that they are from Ikea, it is a recognised style found in the store, therefore not to industrial standards and within the reach of toddlers.

The play equipment for the bigger kids, though not limited to them, has a great four lane bumpy slide which one of my daughters wanted me to help with so I took her down but we got stuck half way down. My other daughter tried alone and also got stuck. We saw no end of other children and parents get stuck and only one, wearing a polyester tracksuit managed it with any speed. It simply isn't slippery, what a waste of time.

As I climbed up the equipment I found that although the surfaces are clean the joins and nooks and crannies are stuffed with crumbs and rubbish in general, far from ideal.

The food and drinks preparation area is open and accessible to anyone, including adventurous toddlers. This seems insane to me, especially with the hot drinks machines and other kitchen equipment behind there.

Although I have big grumbles about the place my kids loved it. So, practically for parents it's lousy, for kids, they love it, just not the silly pointless slide.

So, the best thing to do would be to talk to the owners surely... since my review above appears elsewhere on the internet and I had left a card, when I next dropped in the owners came to talk to me and said they had seen the review and have taken some of the comments on board.

As a result, the slide has been polished, new tables have been ordered, the acknowledgement of the grit and grub in the edges is there though the owner assures me that it is cleaned very regularly but accumulates that mess each day - which is believable.
It is possible that more work is in the pipeline to deal with other issues and I was told emphatically that the member of staff who charged us was in the wrong in the owners books as she reduces the price according to time.
I was also encouraged to talk to them with anything else which I might think and feel.

Now, in my opinion, that's an excellent attitude and approach to running a business and because of it, I'll be back. If ever you knew that customer feedback counted for something, at Run Around you can be certain of it.

I'll be back to update my review with any new changes.

This review may appear, in whole or part, elsewhere on the internet.

Summary: A business bound to improve