Popular indoor children’s playground, The Playtrium, has closed its doors for good after deciding that new Covid-19 health regulations made it unfeasible to continue.

The venue, in the old Phase One building just east of Collector’s Hill in Smith’s, opened five years ago to provide a safe indoor play space for youngsters aged 9 and under. It also had seating for parents, and a café.

When it opened, The Playtrium could accommodate up to 35 youngsters.

Heather Super, who created The Playtrium, in a letter to clients, said: “After finalising details with the health department and learning of our new Covid-19 guidelines, we sadly wish to inform you that the owners of The Playtrium have made the difficult decision to close its doors for good.

“The Playtrium is a social hub. We rely on customers, it’s a volume business, not the type of business that can be moved online. With the new Covid-19 guidelines, we must limit the number of clients in our facility to a ‘safe’ number that allows clients to easily maintain a distance of six feet apart from each other. This drastically lowers our revenue and it simply will not be feasible to remain open.”

Mrs Super said that because of the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, and not knowing how long social distancing requirements will have to remain, it has been decided to keep the Playtrium closed and to repurpose the space.

She said: “Sadly, it seems like the key factors that set The Playtrium apart from other venues and made it such a great place for kids and adults would now either be drastically changed or eliminated altogether. Our clients loved that we were a small, safe space with a strong ‘make yourself at home’ feeling. However, now with the new Covid regulations, our small space and our square footage is the problem. We can’t have the numbers we need to sustain the business.”

Mrs Super added: “The Playtrium will always be proudly known for its high standards of consistent cleanliness and attention to detail. Lowering our standards was never an option. It was equally important to us that our staff loved working there just as much as our clients loved being there at The Playtrium. That was also part of our standard, that’s what made us who we were. We were a great team and that’s one of the reasons we were able to produce such a great product, because we really, truly enjoyed what we did.”

She thanked the clients who have used The Playtrium and said the happy memories would stay for ever.