Fun Farm and Grantham Bowl owner discusses reopening of soft play areas
Following the latest government announcement, bowling alleys and indoor play areas could open from Saturday August 15.
The announcement, which came on Thursday August 13, ended a period of uncertainty following lockdown for local businesses such as Grantham Bowl, Fun Farm and Imagination Town.
Grantham Bowl seized the opportunity to reopen from Saturday, having been ready to open for business in a post-lockdown world following two false starts on July 4 and August 1.
However, Fun Farm, an indoor play centre under the same ownership as Grantham Bowl, has not confirmed a reopening date as safety measures are still being finalised.
Karen Slator, owner of Fun Farm and Grantham Bowl, said: “With Fun Farm we are under discussions about that at the moment. We’ve got a very stringent 23-page document of guidelines that we have to comply with before we can open the soft play.
“We thought, right let’s get the bowling alley open because we were ready for that on July 4 and then August 1, and then worry about the fun farm after that.
“The regulations are really stringent and obviously we want to make sure that we comply with them all, so we are working through them one by one and making sure that we are all compliant before we open.
“We were pleased to be back at the weekend. We had lots of measures already ready a couple of weeks ago. People are quite happy with the pre-booking and the staggered times and using alternate lanes.
“The Eat Out to Help Out is going really well. They’re really enjoying that because they get half price food and milkshakes on Monday to Wednesday. I think it does encourage people to stay and eat, because it’s good value.
“We’re just happy to be open. We’re happy that everybody’s eating and we’re happy that they’re coming bowling.
“With Fun Farm, we’re just working through it at the moment. There’s no point rushing at it and not doing it correctly or not doing it to the best of our abilities. We need to make sure everything is all correct, it’s something that can’t be taken lightly.
“We had no indication whatsoever about [indoor play centres reopening]. The last I heard was that it might be some time in October then all of a sudden we could open tomorrow."
