Children's activity centre revamps itself to become 'Covid-secure'

A children’s activity centre, which had been set to open its doors in March, has revamped itself as a ‘play cafe’ to satisfy new coronavirus laws.

Roots Activities, in Stuston Place, Diss, will welcome its first customers next week – six months after its intended opening date.

Working closely with the environmental health team at South Norfolk Council, the venture has been transformed into a play cafe, where children will be invited to sit and enjoy arts and crafts in social bubbles, while also using the play area.

“We were due to open in March, but postponed it because it was really obvious that children’s soft play areas would be one of the last things to open,” said owner Hannah Bartrum.

Manager Georgina Carpenter, 26, added: “We planned it to be a climbing centre for all ages, but with the pandemic, it’s restricted the amount of people, so we’ve adapted it to turn it into a play cafe.”

The centre is set to reopen on Friday, September 25, with a capacity of 35, and a number of social distancing and sanitary measures in place to ensure it is Covid secure, including a fog machine to sterilise the play area between uses.

“It was heartbreaking getting everything ready to go and then having to put everything on hold,” said Miss Carpenter.

“But it should be a much nicer experience now,” added Mrs Bartrum, 43.

“We have had so much in place – all the staff have had special Covid training.

“We are trying to make it a family place where children don’t necessarily have to notice it’s Covid secure.”