March 2024 by Michael Furniss
Clean and well run.
March 2024 by Ayman Zygote
Great facilities for the kids. However, it's not cheap. And it's extremely money hungry of them to have all the snacks at kid height. I spend most of the time running after my son, stopping him from grabbing food.
February 2024 by Philip rossell
Lovely place and food fantastic.
December 2023 by Paul Sharman
Great place to take toddlers safe and clean
December 2023 by Jo Phelan
I took my two year old son to the soft play area today and we both had a fantastic time. It was freezing outside but inside the venue was lovely and warm. Plus all the other parents, children and staff were lovely as well.
November 2023 by Chelsea Harmsworth
This place is disgusting!!!!!! A member of staff screaming and shouting at parents in front of toddlers making them shake and cry!!!!!!!Today my family and I went for a nice meal in the cafe then proceeded to take our 3 year old daughter and son to the play place.I have been to this place about 5 time maximum as don?t live in the area and it?s always had a relaxed atmosphere with no staff doing much or that are ever present behind the counter to serve when you need them to.So today we walked in after our meal from the adjoining cafe no staff were present so we took a seat and proceeded to take our children?s shoes off so they could eagerly play.We were going to pay when we saw staff actively working but they were sitting in the corner so assumed they were on a lunch break.Of course we would have never left without paying!!!!10 minutes later a member of staff approached us and asked if we had pre booked to which we said no, and she stated could we pay before we left to which we said of course. We were going too but no staff were present when we initially arrived!When we (2 women, 2 toddlers and an OAP) left 15 minutes later after only being in there 35 minutes in total we politely asked ?can we pay for the children please? to which the staff member (manager Emma) rudely practically shouted ?Every single person on this tables NEEDS to pay!!!?She then insinuated we were planning not to pay, I feel she has a case of mistaken identity by stating ?you always come in here and try not to pay, and bring your own lunch? she seemed delusional and the fury behind her eyes was insane! The proximity to which she started insulting and shouting this was in our faces! Her chest was literally touching mine!!! She screamed ?get out now or I?m calling a manager!!!? Whilst slamming a chair on the floor!!!! - my cousin was secretly recording all of this on her phone as she was scared she was going to launch at me or something!!!I asked her to proceed to call the manager as I was not being threatened or insulted in this way.The manager came and had no interest to understand the situation and was completely dominated by this aggressive member of staff! My OAP mum had to take the children outside in the waiting area as they were shaking and crying at the shouting of the aggressive stranger at their mummy?s!We are respectable business owners in our late 30?s that in all honesty were in total shock! Whether this was a case of mistaken identity or someone who is clearly aggressive and SHOULD NOT be working around children is beyond me!!!We will take this further as the owner clearly couldn?t care less about his customers being abused or insulted.Overall the fact this occurred in front of children is a disgrace! Children shouldn?t have to witness such vile aggression to the point of tears!!! Someone clearly needs to look to see whether this woman has a DBS check to even work with children!!!!
November 2023 by Sophie Scott
Had an awful experience at the play barn this week, after visiting regularly with our children for atleast 2 years and using the play barn cafe and the main cafe every single time.We were accused of attempting not to pay for the soft play entry, even though there were no staff behind the counter and we went to the counter to pay after being in there for 30 minutes (there were still no staff behind the counter). We were then accused of not paying on previous visits which has NEVER happened, we were accused of bringing our own food in which is apparently not allowed, when we have NEVER done. We always ate in the soft play and main cafe, jacket potatoes/sandwiches for the children and had actually this time just come from the main cafe where our meal came to almost £70 in total.As mentioned in another review on here, I thought this would have been an isolated incident it seems there are quite a few reviews regarding rudeness and lack of service.It?s a great shame that the management seem to do nothing about these reviews as if it is normal to receive these types of complaints.The aggression from a member of staff when we had the ?audacity? to respond in the same manner she was speaking to us in, regarding these accusations was disgusting. To the point she grabbed a chair and slammed it on the floor and shouted GET OUT.I will happily not be returning although we were told we weren?t welcome to come back through false allegations after nearly 2 years of custom!I?m not sure why anyone would take their children to a soft play pay £70 for lunch in the main cafe and then attempt to not pay for their children to enter the play barn! Ridiculous allegations and just down right awful.
October 2023 by John Benneworth
Well this is a gem outside of Colchester really clean a small setup but with lots to do food available no chips in sight. I will. Be coming here more often. At the same time I've become green fingerd in my mid 30s funny that I can also get some plants ect on the way out. Win win really.
October 2023 by Liv Hobbs
Went for some lunch the other day and was very pleased,if i remember correctly our waitress name was melissa i think.She went the extra mile for me and my elderly mother and was very patient given my mother can he quite a handful sometimes especially with her early stages of dementia.Would 100% go back
August 2023 by Gilly Morgan
The play barn is lovely, the staff are very helpful.However we stopped at the nursery coffee shop. I was ignored at the counter for over 5 minutesI only wanted take away coffee, which was so bad we threw it away.
August 2023 by Geraldine M
My grandson thoroughly enjoyed playing in the Play Barn. The equipment and play areas are very clean and are kept in very good order. The cafe serves drinks, hot drinks, food and caters for gluten free diets.
August 2023 by Lynn Theresa Grimsey
My grandchildren had a lovely time, reasonably priced. Clean and friendly. Clean toilets. Especially the lady on the till on 2/8/23. So organised and smiling throughout. So helpful, only downside was that we waited so long for a sandwich 30 plus minutes, but the staff were soo busy. Will definitely go again,
August 2023 by Brad Wendes
*EDIT - original review below*Manager of the Play Barn approached us later on, was very apologetic, she was lovely and more than made up for the earlier interactions with the restaurant staff and Play Barn staff.Seems the combination of being short staffed and very busy contributed to our less than ideal initial experience.Our little girl loves the soft play, so we?ll likely try again another day????????????????????-Terrible customer service, terrible experience.The facilities are nice, fun activities for the kids, but the terrible management and awful customer service mean that we?re unlikely to ever return.The site was clearly unprepared for increase footfall in the summer holidays, and the staff were rude when spoken with.We?d intended to come in and have lunch in the restaurant before our booking in the barn.The restaurant had over an hour wait for food and wouldn?t let any more customers in, the cafe wouldn?t let us buy food before our time slot even though the restaurant were not letting anyone else in.Despite a large number of empty tables, we weren?t even allowed to sit down and wait for our time slot so we had to carry our 1yr old around for a further 45mins.Based on the other reviews this might have been an isolated incident, but our first visit was a very bad experience.
August 2023 by ASMRwhisper ASMRwhisper
This woman walked up to me and my boys whilst we were at the Play Barn and said "YOU HAVE TAKEN SOMEONE'S ORDER". How can I TAKE the meal from you, does not make any sense, there is no way a customer would 'take', you have to hand it to them. You gave me the wrong items and because I was being polite, I didn't want to complain. Very apologetically I said do I need to pay extra. She was very abrasive, to the point I starting to feel like my integrity was in question, the icing on the cake was a comment 'i couldn't take something I didn't pay for'( old lady that didn't get her food).I told the manager that I am not happy my integrity is in question and not happy about the disgusting treatment. Again after I explained politely she said, 'I keep repeating myself'. How can a manger say to you "I keep repeating myself." The organisation needs training on how to deal with customers. In order to adequately deal with an unhappy customer, it's extremely important to show patience and professionalism. Don't interrupt, argue, or blame the customer. This is the prevailing attitude of the organisation. It seems like this is the attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values that operate within this organisation. They would need to hire external help that provides insights into best practices and innovative training approaches.If it was down to me I wouldn't come back again, but because my boys loved it unfortunately I have to come back again. But I hope they take some of the tips highlighted above onboard.
August 2023 by Rachel Eames
Fantastic soft play and cafe. Only negative I would say is having to pay for over 6 months old when there is nothing for them to do untill they can walk.
