Soft play centre has officially opened its doors to dogs

A soft play centre has made the very important decision to welcome dogs following its reopening after the pandemic.

Pipsqueaks Play Cafe in Wigan now allows families to bring their four-legged friends onto the premises, where they can sit and socialise in the newly-launched ‘dog-friendly’ area.

Parents can socialise their dogs while their children play in the soft play area – sadly, dogs aren’t currently allowed in this part of the centre due to hygiene reasons, but Pipsqueaks owner, Wendy Unsworth, is planning on allowing it ahead of the next deep clean.

Pipsqueaks Play Cafe / Facebook

She told the Manchester Evening News: “We first became dog friendly last summer, as we have some lovely walks around the centre and lots of free parking, so it made sense to section off an area of the cafe for dog walkers.

“This is totally separate from the soft play. The rationale behind the exclusive dog-friendly play sessions is that adults and children have missed out on so much social contact and by allowing dogs, particularly lockdown pups, to come along, we remove a barrier to visiting soft play – lots of people don’t want to leave their dogs or would need to arrange for someone to pop in and check on them.

“It’s not just for puppies either – we had some older dogs in September who don’t walk much now and their owners said it was perfect socialisation for them too.”

She added: “The cafe part now always has a dog-friendly seating area, except for a couple of times a week when classes are taking place in there.”

Pipsqueak Play Cafe / Facebook

As for the doggy soft play sessions, there’s no set date yet, but Wendy is hopeful that the idea can soon become a reality.

She said: “The next idea is that before we next have a professional deep clean, we will hand the centre over to the dogs for a play session… Apparently swimming pools do it before they are emptied and refilled and also Chill Factore before they replace all their equipment. The dogs would love it.”

Pipsqueak has also launched a ‘newborn baby’ section reserved exclusively for parents and their newborns – the space is aimed at babies who can sit and roll, featuring lots of lights and high contrast monochrome images to complement early vision development.

For more information and bookings, visit the Pipsqueak Play Cafe here.