Oxygen Activeplay, Yorkshire: ‘I tried a parent-friendly play centre in York’

Oxygen Activeplay in Clifton Moor, York is a state-of-the-art, indoor playcentre for those inevitable rainy days.

We sent our reporter Sophie Mei Lan Malin to try it out.

‘A mum with her feet up reading a book while her children happily entertain themselves in the soft play centre,’ that’s what the photo on the advert used to show for my local playcentre, but the reality is at best I get a sticky seat and table with some dregs of squash or an expensive instant coffee which tastes like dishwater.

I’ve spent the past 12 years with at least one of my tots enjoying these garish plastic fantastic confined cells. So I wasn't all too excited about trying another one.

Instead of being sat reading with my feet up, I could normally be found breaking up squabbles or attempting to squeeze my body through two huge rollers in an attempt to retrieve my children so we can finally leave the play centre following a ‘two hours too long’ session which often contains more drama and upset than a full season of ITV’s Love Island combined.

Normally the end of a challenging session is to be looked forward to but not at a play centre when it comes to retrieving your children.

When my kids were tots, I could be found running after them as they pretended not to hear the tannoy that their time was up for the third time. I would certainly hear the tannoy loud and clear as a moody staff member would then shout at me: “please no adults on the soft play.”

Queue a carpet burn as I vacated down the slide, while my children would most likely still be at the top of the so-called fun house, giggling.

Nowadays, the issue often is prizing the kids off their screens.

Anyway I’m pleased to report that after more than a decade of attempting to entertain the kids on rainy days other than via their screens, which there are many, play centres are now beginning to include adults and extra stimuli into the equation rather than just seeing the parents as the purses.

So much so, there’s a new purpose built play centre in town which even has a quiet room for parents to hot desk or chill out while the kids play.

Here’s what my family and I found when we went to check out Oxygen Activeplay in York.

With five kids at home ages ranging from 8 months to 15, I was unsure how one centre would fare. The 15 year old backed out of our family day out, falling at the first hurdle, getting up; apparently they were “busy” sleeping.

Fortunately for the others it was a rainy day and this turned out to be the ideal activity.

Oxygen is a bright and clean playcentre, complete with digital displays, just in case the kids had screen withdrawal symptoms.

The staff were so friendly adding to the excitement as we entered the mini arena.

It’s an all-in-one area of interconnected trampolines with a trapeze propelling you onto a giant airbag. There’s also a parkour area, inflatables and a soft play for under 5s. You can book in to go climbing on their purpose built walls following your play session.

We had an hour bouncing around, playing hide and seek and the staff led some games too which meant if they wanted to, parents could relax on the seats or bean bags. You can sit upstairs in the cafe and watch but our kids wouldn’t allow that. To be honest I’d rather play when it’s somewhere fun and big enough for me. My husband took the baby to the small soft play area. An hour was the right amount of time to play because we’d done everything by then. It was then time for half an hour of climbing but you do need appropriate trainers for this as well as specialist socks for the first part. It was great to see our eldest kids be kids and race to the top of the walls.

While not all the digital features were working I think this was more of a snagging issue. It was great at how open a space it is so you could easily find your children and with the cafe overlooking the arena we managed to lure them away from the play area.

Then it was time to check out the cafe. It has a large menu including vegan options and an array of drinks. Up here we found a hot desking booth and a quiet area for parents. It’s soundproof with charging ports and a large screen. The ideal place for taking work calls or remote working while your kids play.

That said as soon as my kids saw me have a look inside they joined me too and decided to chill out there. Instead my husband, baby and I ordered the food.

They have a huge menu, probably too big, ranging from stone baked pizzas to pancakes, sandwiches and salads. Due to our large clan of a variety of taste buds we really did test the staff who were lovely which meant quite a long wait. I think a stripped down menu would work better but I did appreciate my tasty vegan salad, my husband enjoyed his toastie and the kids managed to polish off everything from pizza to halloumi sticks and pasta.

It was a fun and active half day out, costing £18+ per person for over 5s. I’m all for parent-friendly play centres like this, it actually helped us to distress and spend some quality time together.