When you’re opening a brand new attraction space, every decision shapes your future. Clip N Climb Gloucester made a bold choice from day one: combine climbing walls with dedicated soft play in a single, harmonious space.
The result? A venue that welcomes entire families from the moment they walk through the door.
Clip N Climb Gloucester launched as a fresh concept in a bustling shopping centre location, perfectly positioned to capture families during their day out. Rather than following the traditional climbing centre model, they recognised an opportunity to do something different from the start.
Modern families often have children at very different stages, and they wanted to build a venue where everyone felt welcome – from confident climbers to curious toddlers taking their first adventurous steps.
The question facing the new venture was significant: “How do you design a space that genuinely works for the whole family?”
Many activity venues inadvertently exclude younger children, which means families with mixed-age siblings face difficult choices before they even visit. The vision was to create something where climbing walls and soft play didn’t compete for attention or compromise each other’s appeal. Instead, it worked together to create a destination families would choose again and again.
From the planning stages, we collaborated with Clip N Climb to integrate soft play into the venue’s DNA. The soft play area gives toddlers and younger children their own adventure zone where they can climb, slide, and explore safely at their own pace, whilst sitting harmoniously alongside the dramatic climbing walls.
It’s designed to feel natural within the space – not an add-on, but an essential part of the experience. Siblings can play together in the soft play, or split their adventures between both areas. Parents appreciate having genuine options built in from the beginning.
Clip N Climb Gloucester opened with a clear competitive advantage: they can confidently welcome every family that walks past in that busy shopping centre. Whether you’ve got a fearless seven-year-old, a cautious toddler, or both, there’s something purposeful waiting. The venue’s design decision to embrace multiple age groups from day one means families stay longer, return sooner, and recommend enthusiastically.
If you’re planning a new venue or reconsidering your current offer, let’s talk about designing spaces that work for real families.
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