Take a look inside new Rushden play park
The 360 Play features a host of attractions and activities including a multi-level play frame with ball showers, ball zones, slides, a carousel and dodgem track.
The 20,000 sq ft unit will also have a 360 Street creative play zone with play units such as a fire station, supermarket, pizza parlour, vets and dressing up boutique.
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Hide AdAbout 300 children attended a golden ticket preview day yesterday (Monday) and the Northants Telegraph was invited to take a peek.
Managing director Duncan Phillips said: “We are very pleased to be here and we’ve got some great staff.
“This is a great area and the reaction we’ve had is that people love it.”
The centre, which has a capacity of 550 and can host parties, also has a sensory room and sports zone with table tennis tables and what Duncan says is the longest table football in Britain - with 14 players needed for a game.
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Hide AdThe play park, which has created 45 on-site jobs, also has a diner.
It’s made so adults can play with their children, an idea Duncan progressed after being unable to play with his own children at another play centre more than 10 years ago.
He said: “It all started when I went to a soft play centre and it didn’t give me the opportunity to play with my children.
“It was very much kids playing with parents sitting watching them.
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Hide Ad“I wanted to go somewhere where we could all play together.”
Duncan, who also helped develop Gulliver’s Theme Park, created 360 Play and opened his first unit in Milton Keynes 10 years ago.
The Rushden Lakes unit, in the leisure terrace where the cinema will be, is the seventh branch.
It uses equipment manufactured in the UK with the only fees the entrance ticket and any food bought.
Parents must be with their children at all times and cannot drop them off while they shop.