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Oceans of Fun Ltd

Background:

  • Oceans of Fun Limited is owned by Julie Lock and Kerry Darch and started in 2007 to provide children with an indoor soft play, party and activity centre in Hucknall
  • It was established to meet local needs because there was a gap in provision available to parents in the town; the nearest alternative was in Arnold
  • They are a micro sized business, employing five part time staff and four casual weekend staffs and have been shortlisted by the Association of Indoor Play for the award of ‘indoor play centre of the year 2024’ and made it to the final 3.

Challenges:

  • In order to grow the business, Oceans of Fun wanted to increase their service offer by developing exterior space into an outside play area
  • This would be somewhere for children to use during the summer and would complement their indoor services
  • Existing revenues come from their indoor services, which during the summer is reduced as children look for more outside play opportunities. The challenge for the business was how to create a sustainable revenue stream throughout the year and secure jobs.

Solutions and impact:

  • Oceans of Fun was supported by Ashfield District Council Business Support team to make a grant application for the Enterprise Development Grant and the business was awarded a £6000 grant
  • This has enabled Oceans of Fun to build a safe outdoor role play village for children to enjoy all year round. They now have a more attractive play centre which is helping to bring in new customers whatever the weather, which has substantially increased their footfall and business revenues
  • In completing this project Oceans of Fun researched several suppliers to undertake this work, but they decided to use a local business, PEM (part of The Shed Brothers Group) based in Mansfield. This decision was another positive benefit from the project that directly contributed to the local economy
  • This project resulted in creating 1.5 new jobs
  • Oceans of Fun Ltd now expect to see an increase in revenues by £2500 each month which will enable the business to become more sustainable.

A word from the business: 

“We recently celebrated our ‘coming of age’ 18 years in business. We never thought we would reach this milestone, due to the struggles during the Covid pandemic where we were closed for 18 months and post Covid as people were still getting their confidence back to use indoor facilities. We feel we have come back much stronger and are an asset to the local community and town. We are excited to offer the outdoor role play area to our customers and have the added option of outdoor play”

Julie Lock, Director at Oceans of fun Ltd