By James Humphrey
The Wee Play Place in Alexandria has been awarded the Children’s Play Centre of the Year award at the Scottish Hospitality Awards.
The centre is no stranger to receiving awards with this being the second year in a row it has received a prize, after winning Best Entertaining Team at last year’s Hospitality Awards.
The soft play industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic with it being one of the last to reopen.
Despite the issues caused by the lockdown, the Wee Play Place has recovered remarkably – with the two awards won by the centre a testament to how much it has grown in the last two years.
A spokeswoman for AS Softplay, which runs The Wee Play Place, said: “It was pretty exciting when we got the email as we’ve been taken over by new owners and this is their first award for the Wee Play Place.
“We were excited to find out we were finalists, and then we went and won it. We’ve worked hard to keep everybody happy and for the community.
“We are one of the lower priced soft plays, we try to keep the prices as low as possible so it’s good for everybody; good for play groups, for social workers and other sorts of places like that as well so it’s good to be recognised for the work we do.
She added: “During the pandemic the soft play industry took a big hit, so it’s great to now be coming back and be recognised for the hard work that everybody’s put in.
“We were one of the last places to be open after Covid and had to build the business back up again.
“To be recognised as the best children’s centre in Scotland was a really big achievement for us, so I think everybody’s really proud of themselves.”
