Premium Under-5s Play Café Combining Soft Play and Quality Café Experience
£445,000
£268,737
£130,868
Overview
Leasehold
2022
- Excellent Reputation
- Friendly & Professional Team
- Very Loyal Customer Base
- Huge Growth Potential
- Low Overheads
This is a premium under-5s play café, established in 2022 and founder-operated since launch, located in a prime village-style setting. The concept blends a high-quality café environment with a dedicated soft-play experience for children aged 6 months to 5 years, delivered through pre-booked, capacity-controlled sessions that prioritise safety, cleanliness and experience quality.
The venue operates across 2 distinct floors, with the café positioned upstairs and a purpose-designed under-5s soft-play space downstairs. This clear separation enhances dwell time, encourages higher spend per visit and maintains a calm, trusted environment for both children and caregivers. Sessions are deliberately capped at 20 children plus caregivers, avoiding the overcrowding and mixed-age dilution typical of traditional soft-play centres.
The business benefits from multiple, well-balanced revenue streams, including session bookings, café sales, private parties, exclusive hire and third-party class rentals. Party bookings in particular are in strong inbound demand, delivering attractive margins while also driving brand visibility and customer acquisition.
A strong local reputation underpins performance, with a 4.6-star Google rating , frequently highlighting the venue’s cleanliness, thoughtful design and premium feel. Since launch, the business has transitioned rapidly from start-up to profitability, demonstrating robust demand, operational leverage and brand trust.
The operating model is simple, documented and suitable for manager-led ownership, reducing reliance on the founder. With proven margins, consistent demand and a clearly defined niche, the concept is highly scalable and replicable, with organic interest already evident in expansion and franchising opportunities.
Overall, this represents a high-quality platform asset with clear upside for a buyer capable of professionalising management and accelerating growth through multi-site rollout or brand expansion.
The business operates from a single-site leasehold premises in Clapham Old Town, comprising approximately 1,668 sq ft over 2 floors.
Facilities include customer seating, café counter and service areas, 2 kitchen areas, curated soft play features and developmental stations, 2 toilets with baby-changing facilities, pram storage, back-of-house prep and storage areas, CCTV, alarm and fire systems, and step-free access to the ground-floor café with accessible WC.
The business operates a repeatable, low-complexity model based on bookable sessions, café service and private hire. All systems are cloud-based and transferable, enabling a manager-led model. The Founder is unsalaried, and a buyer should introduce a paid management role unless remaining hands-on. Staff are cross-trained, and SOPs are being documented to support handover.
There is immediate opportunity to optimise the timetable, improve off-peak utilisation and introduce smarter peak/off-peak pricing while protecting the premium brand. Additional revenue can be driven through pre-book add-ons, snack and coffee bundles, and refined session lengths to increase yield per hour.
Parties represent a strong, inbound-led growth engine, with scope to improve conversion, yield and availability through tighter enquiry handling, tiered packages and premium add-ons. Evening hire of the upstairs café area for suitable events offers incremental revenue outside core play hours. Improved speed-to-lead processes and automated follow-ups could further increase conversion beyond current levels.
The concept has attracted organic interest in replication and franchising. With SOPs, supplier lists and training documentation being formalised, the business is well positioned for a second site or franchise-style rollout.
Features
Online Presence
Location
- On-Site Car Parking