Former soft play centre which reopened as venue hire business has had ‘better reviews than expected’
The owner of a former soft play centre, which reopened as an occasion venue hire business at the start of May, says it has had “better reviews than expected”.
Zoomania, which evolved from Hullabaloo and opened in Gladstone Road in 2020, closed for the final time in April.
The business reopened at the start of May as Northants Venue Hire, allowing the public to hire the venue for special occasions for all ages – such as birthdays, team building, social events, engagement and graduation parties, and more.
It is available to hire for two-hour slots from 9.15am until 11pm everyday, with weekdays priced at £375 and weekends priced at £450.
These prices include the multi-tiered soft play, a free-to-use arcade, dance floor, pool table and photo booth. A fully licensed bar and laser games are available as optional extras at an additional price.
Zoomania was one of the three brands trading under Indoor Adventure Ltd, which is run by director and owner Rob Scott. The other two are Laser Zone and All About Party Bags, also located in Gladstone Road.
When Zoomania changed to Northants Venue Hire, the other two aspects of Indoor Adventure Ltd remained unchanged.
It has now been two months since the reopening and Rob told the Chronicle & Echo: “It’s had better reviews than we were expecting. It’s a bit of a slow burn to be honest.
“When you get one big group who really enjoy it, you get good feedback and they tell their friends. It’s about building up the reputation of being a fantastic venue and it’s going well.”
The business established its social media presence at the start of this month with the help of an external company, which Rob hopes will give a massive boost moving forward.
When asked what feedback customers have provided, Rob says they appreciate it being exclusive use and the flexibility of bringing their own food to create a bespoke experience.
The arcade area, particularly the boxing machine, pool table and photobooth, have proved popular – and the majority of bookings have so far been birthday parties for children under 10.
Despite this, Rob said: “There’s a good spread of people and long gone are the days when it’s a child-only venue. Now there’s a mixture of everybody and we have a licensed bar to serve alcohol to adults.”
Rob was asked if he is confident that he made the right choice to switch Zoomania to Northants Venue Hire off the back of what he has seen over the first two months.
“Absolutely,” he said. “One side of the coin, it’s a bit weird it being so quiet. The kitchen is now closed and we don’t have the added expenditure. For me personally, I’ve got another business in Aylesbury and it’s made it all easier to manage.”
Looking to the future of Northants Venue Hire, Rob looks forward to rolling out themed offerings throughout the rest of this year – and building up to back-to-back bookings on the weekends.
The business has already started securing bookings for September and Rob remains confident that things are moving in the right direction.