Swindon Borough Council is embarking on an ambitious five-year £750m regeneration programme to improve the area for residents and businesses alike. One of the key targets for the Forward Swindon project is to address is the lack of recreational facilities and amusements for families and residents in the area.
For 14 years, Bonkers Play Centre had been operating on the outskirts of the town centre, in a large garden centre in Wroughton. Having run a successful children’s soft play centre since 2002, Director, Sandra Burchell, saw more potential in her business and the town’s regeneration.
Bonkers Play has recently relocated to a 10k square-foot site, located in the busy Brunel Centre Arcade in Swindon’s town centre. Nestled between food courts and popular retail outlets, Bonkers provides parents with the perfect bribe to persuade their little ones to be patient whilst they shop!
Through a lease agreement with Johnson Reed, Bonkers was kitted out with a new array of soft play equipment, including four new ball cannons, a twin lane aerial runway and a brand new toddler area for the younger clientele.
The lease spreads the cost of the assets over a term of four years, helping Sandra preserve her cash flow in the crucial early stages of the relocation. Instead, capital can be put to use in more proactive areas, like marketing their improved facilities or hiring new staff for the larger premises, for example.
“Our relocation, while both exciting and stressful, has given the business a number of different opportunities to grow and expand facilities to offer customers,” commented Sandra, “With the support from Johnson Reed, it has taken the pressure off and enabled more projects to be up and running sooner, and improve what is offered to our customers.”