A soft play centre that survived the pandemic lockdowns by branching out into takeaway food has reopened after a £200,000 investment.
Sarah and Gareth Sewell bought the Crazy Kingdom soft play centre on Northallerton’s Standard Way in March 2019 and invested in cleaning and rejuvenating the tired premises before opening.
But almost exactly a year later, their fledgling business was forced to shut due to the Covid pandemic lockdowns and restrictions.
Undeterred, the couple, who have a background in catering with their Sewell’s Smoke and Grill van, launched a takeaway service that was a huge hit with the local community throughout the pandemic.
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That support enabled the Sewells to continue employing their staff and ensured that when Covid lockdowns and restrictions finished, the Crazy Kingdom weathered the financial storm and was able to reopen.
On June 26 this year it shut for a major refurbishment including the purchase of a new play frame, new toilet facilities and fresh carpets.
On Monday (August 8) it held a ‘soft reopening’ morning for invited customers to get a first look at the new facilities.
Speaking at the event, Gareth, who has two children with Sarah, seven-year-old Poppy and Harvey, two, said: “We are really proud of this place and we have done it not just for everybody else but for our children – our two kids have been with us through all the building up of it.
“Now it feels like we’ve helped bring the community back together.
“We feel like we have just solidified everything together and made it a place where people actually want to come and relax and sit knowing that their kids are safe and having a really good time.
“We wanted it to be a place where not just the kids want to come, but the adults too – we wanted to offer that entire package across the board.”
Reflecting on their two-year Crazy Kingdom journey, Sarah said: “We bought the business out of its franchise so we had the freedom to do what we wanted to it, I had a baby at the time, so two children, then the pandemic hit.
“From that the local community were fantastic, they asked us to do a takeaway service because the food was so good and that is how the takeaway was born.”
Sarah added: “We’d really like to thank the community for their support, we run this place like a family and there really is a lovely community feel to it.”
The centre, which employs 11 staff, has enough table seating for 150 people and Gareth still oversees the kitchen, ensuring the standards that gave the venue such a name during its takeaway phase are maintained.
All food served is home-cooked and they still do take-outs for workers on the surrounding industrial estate.
Gareth also spends time working at the couple’s other business, the Hangry Gorilla eatery and takeaway on Darlington’s Skinnergate which contributes charity funds to ‘adopt’ gorillas.
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