A ‘mumtrepreneur’ who opened a high-end soft play says she wanted to give parents a luxury experience.
Mum-of-two Remen Bains, 39, from Sutton Coldfield, who runs two soft play businesses, says she wants to offer her customers the opportunity to let their children run wild in an environment that is ‘a feast for the eyes’.
Based in an old barn, Crumb and Play offers parents the chance to enjoy gluten-free and vegan cakes and coffee, while their little ones can pretend to be a hairdresser or construction worker.
Her second business, The Kids Corner, brings the luxury soft play experience to homes and children’s parties – with Remen saying she has celebrity clients including Rochelle Humes and local Aston Villa players.
The ex-investment banker says parents love the clean environment and Instagram-esque look of the playground.
‘Mumtrepreneur’ Remen Bains, 39, who runs high-end soft play center Crumb and Play (pictured)
According to Remen, she wanted to give parents the opportunity to let their children play in an environment that is ‘a feast for the eyes’ (photo)
According to the entrepreneur, other soft play facilities she had visited ‘felt dirty and dingy’ (Picture: Crumb and Play in Litchfield)
And she says kids love the gender-neutral colors and play areas.
Remen said, “Parents like it when they come to a place where they feel comfortable; it has a beautiful environment and is very suitable for Instagram.
‘As a mother I often went to these soft play areas, and they felt dirty and dingy, unfinished and not of quality for the little ones.
‘The vision was for a chic, rustic soft play area, really based on parents, where they can bring their children and still enjoy a nice cup of coffee, cake and snacks.
‘We don’t use plastic toys, they are all hand-picked, good quality wooden products for the children to play with.
‘There are also gluten-free and vegan options for children and the color palette is beautiful and colorful and not painful on the eye.
‘Girls work in the construction industry and boys in the hairdresser; we kept the colors gender neutral.’
The business owner first started The Kids Corner in January 2019 with the aim of bringing a luxury soft play experience to the customer’s home.
Crumb and Play is designed to be engaging and Instagrammable so that both children and their parents can enjoy the experience
According to Remen, she wants to ‘change the idea of what a soft play space can be: colorful and stylish instead of dingy’
The entrepreneur’s soft play company Crumb and Play (pictured) is based in an old barn in Litchfield
In addition to various play options for children, Crumb and Play (photo) also offers a range of coffee and pastries for parents
Among the play options, children can grow up with real jobs, such as in this play salon
She says she has quickly picked up celebrity clients including Rochelle Humes, Kimberley Walsh, JLS and England footballers.
And when she opened Crumb and Play in Litchfield in November 2023, customers poured in.
Remen says she wants to change the idea of what a soft play space can be: colorful and stylish rather than ‘grubby’.
Crumb and Play (pictured) has been specifically designed to be different from what Remen describes as the typical ‘grubby’ soft play areas
Remen Bains is a former investment banker, mother of two and entrepreneur, who founded her soft play company Crumb and Play (pictured)
This former barn in Litchfield (photo) is the luxurious setting for the luxury soft play café Crumb and Play
According to Remen, the mothers like that it is a nice café; in other soft plays there are wild children everywhere and they are messy.
Crumb and Play offers 90-minute sessions in the playground, from £7.95 for under twos to £10.95 for older children, and non-crawlers are free.
And she says parents are coming back for the café’s offering of cakes from £2.25 and coffee from £3.85.
“I’m trying to change the mentality of what a soft game can be,” Remen said, “it can be colorful with a bit of class.
‘The mothers like that it is a nice café; in other soft plays there are wild children everywhere and they are messy.
‘It’s designed so parents can chat with friends and still keep an eye on their little ones.’