Two soft play centres in the Southport area have encouraged hundreds of people to sign a petition asking for them to reopen.
Jollies Barn, at The Gravel in Mere Brow, Tarleton, and Playtown, at Ocean Plaza in Southport, must both close their doors temporarily from tomorrow (Friday 22 October).
It follows changes to the Tier 3 Covid restrictions in both the Liverpool City Region and Lancashire, which initially allowed soft play centres to remain open.
Over 700 people have now signed the petition.
Jollies Barn owner Laura Brookes said: “There is no evidence to say that soft play is spreading the virus – none. We haven’t had one case of the virus in our Play Barn and the customer reviews mirror how clean and organised we are at Jollie’s to keep everyone safe.
“It has taken a little over two months to get the confidence of customers coming to visit places like ours as they get such bad press and now they’re doing it again.
“I have a daughter myself and have been to public play areas outside which aren’t cleaned in between each play, aren’t policed by anyone to stick to rules etc all of which we are doing throughout the day every day!
“So many changes have already been implemented in the Barn for the last two months.
Playtown in Southport. Photo by Andrew Brown Media
“Temp checks on arrival, track and trace, both customers and staff wearing masks, immensely limited capacity, tables two metres apart, allocated seating & table service, multiple sanitising stations, closing for 30 minutes in-between each session to clean. This is only a touch on the surface of measures that we have had to put in place to stay safe and stay open. And so far it’s worked! But it takes more time and more money.
“Our customers are very loyal. They look at us as a safe place for their children to explore. We have over 8,000 followers on our Facebook page and they are all rooting for us.
“Children are being denied the chance to be children, to play, explore and exercise in a safe environment. Soft play isn’t just somewhere to ‘run and jump’. It’s educational, it teaches children life skills which are imperative to develop young minds.
“It goes to say that this is also needed for the parents too. I for one have a nearly three year old daughter and struggled mentally through lockdown. My husband was still working and it was just me and her. Luckily the weather was nice so we could get out of the house but when it rained I really struggled. I’ve also had this feedback from a lot of other parents that it is their chance to escape for an hour and have a moment’s peace with a sip of a hot drink. It may only seem like a small thing to some – but to others it’s a lot more than that.
“Now we are going into the winter months it’s going to be a lot tougher for these parents so they also need and want this industry to survive.
“Myself and a few other local play areas are in conversation daily and will stand united to get us open again.
“I am setting a petition up along with our neighbouring play area, Playtown in Southport, for our customers and others to sign. Between us we have over 13,000 followers so we have got to get somewhere with that!
“On a last note – I would just like to thank all our loyal customers for your love and support from the bottom of my heart. Your messages and well wishes mean the absolute world to us and we miss you all dearly.
“We hope to see you again very soon.”
You can find the petition at: https://www.change.org/p/lancashire-county-council-fight-to-keep-soft-play-open?recruiter=1158267594&recruited_by_id=0be7ff90-13a4-11eb-88c7-194a0f279eb7&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard
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