Trampoline park and indoor leisure finance

Yes, although a first centre is normally funded in two parts, with equipment finance for the play frame and a smaller loan or the owner's own money for the fit out. The play structure, toddler zone, café kitchen and seating can go on hire purchase or leasing because a lender can recover them, while partitions, flooring, toilets and building work have little resale value and are harder to fund for a business with no trading record. Lenders reading a start up ask for a signed lease or agreed heads of terms, a planning position that allows the use, a forecast built on local competitors' prices and footfall, a visible stake from the owner and a personal guarantee. Someone buying an established centre with two years of accounts has a far wider choice of lenders. As a broker we split the project into the parts each lender is willing to fund and present them together.

Do I need planning permission to open a soft play centre?

In England that turns on the unit's current lawful use. Soft play normally sits in Class E(d), which covers indoor sport, recreation or fitness offered principally to visiting members of the public, so a former shop, office or light industrial unit already in Class E can usually switch to soft play without a planning application, unless a condition on an earlier permission limits the use. A warehouse in Class B8 or a general industrial unit in Class B2 is outside Class E, so moving a play centre in needs planning permission, and councils weigh parking, noise and the loss of employment land. The lease user clause is a separate hurdle, because the landlord's consent may be needed even where planning is settled.

• Planning evidence. A planning consent or lawful development certificate showing the unit can be used for soft play.
• Lease terms. Length, break clauses and the user clause, which together limit how long a lender will spread repayments.
• Equipment quotes. Itemised prices for the frame, safety surfacing, café kitchen and fit out, with installation shown separately.
• Opening forecast. Weekday and weekend admissions, party bookings and café spend built from local prices.

The Planning Portal sets out the use classes in England. Building work and interiors sit under refurbishment and fit out funding, while start up business loans explains what a new operator can borrow. Instant Quotes shows a soft play operator which panel lenders could look at the project.

Yes, and a second site is often easier to fund than the first because lenders can study real booking data. They look at occupancy by room and time slot, average spend per group, the share of income from corporate and party bookings, how new games bring players back and whether the first venue covers its own costs. Theming, props, electronics and puzzle mechanisms are built to order and resell for little, so the build is normally paid for with an unsecured business loan or borrowing secured on the existing business, while screens, booking systems and any bar or café equipment can be put on asset finance. Lenders also ask how long a game sells before it needs replacing, since a room that fades after two years has to repay within that time. We source funding for operators adding venues and set out their booking figures in the way underwriters read them.

Does an escape room need a fire risk assessment?

Yes. In England and Wales a venue open to paying players counts as non domestic premises, which brings it within the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, so the responsible person, normally the operator or employer, must carry out a fire risk assessment and act on what it finds. In England, since 1 October 2023 the whole assessment and all its findings must be recorded in writing, together with the fire safety arrangements and the responsible person's contact details, however small the business. For an escape room the assessment should cover how players leave quickly when a door is locked as part of the game, how staff monitoring the rooms release them, fire detection in darkened rooms and the risk from props, smoke effects and lighting. Fire and rescue services can inspect, and certain offences now carry unlimited fines.

• Booking data. Twelve months of occupancy by room and time slot from the booking system.
• Build costs. Theming, electronics and labour priced apart from equipment that has resale value.
• Game life. How often rooms have been replaced and what each refresh cost.
• Safety records. The written fire risk assessment and the release procedure for locked rooms.

GOV.UK explains the fire safety duties that changed in October 2023. Unsecured business loans covers borrowing for a fit out without property security, and leisure and personal services finance links the other leisure guides. Instant Quotes tells an escape room operator which lenders on the panel could fund another venue.

Most indoor attractions occupy large leased units on retail or industrial parks: high ceilings, clear spans and plenty of parking, but expensive to heat and light. Revenue is front-loaded into weekends and school holidays, with weekday term time filled, if at all, by toddler sessions, school and club bookings and SEN sessions. Birthday parties are often the most profitable product, booked and paid in advance online. Secondary spend in the café, on grip socks or arcade machines can make the difference between a marginal and a healthy site.

The cost base is dominated by staff, rent, energy and insurance. Attractions also wear out: trampoline beds, pads, nets and foam blocks need regular replacement, climbing holds and auto-belays need servicing and inspection, and karts need constant maintenance. Operators who do not budget for that cycle end up borrowing for it in a hurry.

• Fitting out a new site, including flooring, mezzanines, toilets, café and fire safety works
• Installing or replacing trampoline courts, ninja courses, soft play frames or climbing walls
• Adding a new attraction to lift repeat visits, such as a ninja course, interactive play wall or augmented climbing
• Opening a second site, or taking on a franchise territory
• Bridging the quiet months between the summer holidays and Christmas party season
• Reducing energy costs with LED lighting, heat recovery or rooftop solar

Installed attractions lose most of their value once bolted into a unit, so a lender that finances them will rely on your trading and your personal guarantee rather than the kit. A lease shorter than the finance term is a warning sign for both of you. Safety is a commercial risk as well as a legal one: the HSE's guidance on fairgrounds and amusement devices and on play inflatables applies to many attractions, and a serious incident can close a site and affect insurance.

Weigh whether a new attraction will lift repeat visits enough to repay its cost, and whether a landlord incentive, a supplier payment plan or reinvesting peak-season cash would do the job without borrowing. Our guide to seasonal business finance covers planning for quiet months.