Play Centre and Cafe
Phase 1 strategy
Huge demand has been expressed by the community for a park café and a soft play. On reviewing the spatial qualities of the available rooms, the Trust has determined that these two functions are suited to occupying the same space. As the main entrance to be building, the front hall is well suited to this interim use, as it would double as a welcome and orientation area.
Bonnyrigg will need far more indoor play space for early years than this. Phase 2 will meet that demand.
In order to further facilitate complementary organisations, the Trust will rent out the fully operational cafe booth to a social enterprise to manage and the Trust will oversee the reception and soft play area.
Huge demand has been expressed by the community for a park café and a soft play. On reviewing the spatial qualities of the available rooms, the Trust has determined that these two functions are suited to occupying the same space. As the main entrance to be building, the front hall is well suited to this interim use, as it would double as a welcome and orientation area.
Bonnyrigg will need far more indoor play space for early years than this. Phase 2 will meet that demand.
In order to further facilitate complementary organisations, the Trust will rent out the fully operational cafe booth to a social enterprise to manage and the Trust will oversee the reception and soft play area.
The new soft play will replace the former reception area so that parents can have a coffee whilst watching children play. The former play room "The Front Room" will become a flexible room for private hire. When its unlet it will be used by the soft play as a break out room for creative play.
Bonnyrigg Bairns Parties
Bonnyrigg Leisure Centre has a regional reputation for affordable popular parties for young children in East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Edinburgh. We would estimate that most parents in the Lothians have attended a soft play and bouncy castle party there.
It has a reputation of delivering a party that thrills 0-8yr olds and parents alike. The children like the soft play, followed by time in the large run around hall with bouncy castle. The parents like it because they can invite 30 children and it still costs less than £100. The new Lasswade Centre has no soft play, neither does it have the capacity to expand into soft play.
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It has a reputation of delivering a party that thrills 0-8yr olds and parents alike. The children like the soft play, followed by time in the large run around hall with bouncy castle. The parents like it because they can invite 30 children and it still costs less than £100. The new Lasswade Centre has no soft play, neither does it have the capacity to expand into soft play.
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Phase 2: A Play Centre in the old pool
In Phase 2 our hope is to provide spacious indoor play with a difference. It will be done after a more in depth engagement with users for a year. Ideas so far are:
The Soft Play Club: The Unique Concept Unlimited soft play with an ‘off peak’ subscription, or pay per hour. Supervise your child from a sofa with your own food and drink. Make friends with other regular subscribers. It is a social club for parents.
Multiple areas for different ages/needs. Sound reduction screens We want to create a relaxed and well supervised soft play by seating the parents in the middle of the hall with clear sight of the children at all times from all seats. However, it may be quite noisy, so ideally we would like safety glass partition walls 2 Large Party rooms These two party rooms will mean we can have 2 parties every hour at the weekend and also accommodate people dropping in. Having maximum capacity at weekends is a key strategy in making the soft play low cost and social during the week. These rooms can be used as break out rooms during the week. One could be a quiet room for babies to rest in their push chairs, and babies to crawl on mats. Communal kitchen island Community building is key to the concept. So instead of a cafe and extra staff we propose a communal kitchen with a cooking island surrounded by a wrap around breakfast bar where the children can safely sit on the outside and chat to parents while they cook or prepare drinks. Lounge area Because of the ample room we have we can accommodate lots of couches as well as cafe style tables and chairs, to create a relaxed lounge atmosphere. Free WiFi is a must. ‘Grow your own’ planters With the large south facing windows and heated room we have ideal growing conditions for year round tomatoes and salads. We propose 12 3’x3’ planters set around the lounge for people to grow their own food. People could adopt them like an indoor ‘micro allotment’. |
Ideal Location and Building for Soft Play
Why demolish an ideal soft play location in the middle of a 20 acre park when others are having to build bigger ones, such as ‘The Kabin’ in Loanhead? Bonnyrigg needs this because the new facilities won’t include soft play and party provision.
We believe the centre is structurally sound needing no more than £30,000 of roof repairs to give it another 20+ years of life. This interactive demonstration will show you the dilemma the council has: |