I tried out a new (well, new for me) soft-play centre this week, called Young Ruts. The venue is the Old Rutlishians Sports Clubhouse, Poplar Road, Merton Park, London, SW19 3JS (hence the name ‘Young Ruts’). The parking is free (always a plus) and once you pay for your entry, you can stay as long as you want and even go away and return later the same day without having to pay again. The play area is for under 5’s with a separate baby area, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. Entry is £4 for the first child with discounts for additional children and babies under 6 months old are free. They serve all kinds of hot food and the usual snacks and drinks too. Play facilities include a small bouncy castle, a ball pit, a couple of small slides and a load of small toys (like cars, fire engines and dolls). They also have a lot of role-playing toys, like a kitchen area and ‘food store’ with lots of accessories (trolleys and plastic food), as well as lots of baby dolls with a nappy changing station (for the dolls!), an ironing board, a work bench with circular saw (yes, still all toys - not the real thing!).
My daughter really enjoyed her visit to Young Ruts. My impression was that they had a good selection of toys with a light and airy venue (high ceilings). Perhaps not quite enough seating for the adults but then I was there during half-term so I imagine it would be quieter during term time. My only negative comment would be that I thought the venue was a bit dirty for my liking (e.g. lots of food crumbs on the floor and some of the apparatus) but that is probably just because it was busier than usual and it was lunch time, so the staff pehaps didn’t have enough time to clean up in-between preparing the food, etc. I guess also I can’t blame the staff for the mess as the adults attending should have made more of an effort to pick up after their kids and not let them take food into the play areas (there are notices around the hall to this effect - clearly not being followed by the parents/carers!
The website is given as http://www.oldruts.co.uk but I couldn’t find a link on it to ‘Young Ruts’.
xxx
