Appalling weather? Kids bouncing off the walls of your tiny London flat? Fear not, there is hope in the shape of the capital’s myriad indoor playgrounds, from the most stylish play cafes and museum children’s galleries to the least awful soft-play centres we can think of (and, good God, there are some dreadful ones).
Cafe
A stylish, Scandinavian dream of a play cafe. The play cafe I’ve waited six long years of childrearing for.
We were back within a month of our initial visit, and we live 12 miles away – which in London might as well be a different country.
There’s not a lot in it, but its location on the edge of Peckham Rye and the welcome addition of a baby-sensory room mean Apple Tree 2 just edges it over its sister site.
I don’t know what to love most about Peace + Riot: the decor, the menu, the fact it becomes a restaurant at night or the childcare (and let’s be real, it’s obviously the childcare).
Yellow Warbler doesn’t claim to be a play cafe – it’s simply a lovely coffee shop that just so happens to have a kids’ area.
Bella Boos is the only soft play I’ve ever been to that’s reminded me of going clubbing.
I have a (probably fairly unhealthy) fixation with play cafes and am always embarrassingly pumped when I hear about a new one popping up somewhere useful.
I’ve never quite managed to find a public soft-play centre in London that doesn’t make me want to kill myself… until now.
The Moustache has a distinctly grown-up feel – it just happens to cater to grown ups who have children. And frankly, that’s the best kind of cafe I can think of.
bablands.com 