January 23, 2023 Location: Bristol, Somerset
Some parents shudder at the thought of them, others love them (do they know something I don’t? Perhaps ones serving gin and tonic I wonder..?) Either way, soft play cafes are an unavoidable right of passage for most carers of young children, but a great way to tire little ones out, especially on a wet weather day. We’re very lucky to have so many cafes with soft play in Bristol to choose from, so I’ve put together a list of cafes with play areas and the best soft plays in Bristol for the next time you need a contained space to let the kids loose in.
If you have a recommendation for the best soft play in Bristol, childrens’ play centre or a cafe with indoor play area, please let me know and I’ll add it to the blog.
I’ll be updating this post on Bristol soft play regularly, for more updates on things to do with kids in Bristol and the nearby area, join my Facebook group.
Table of Contents
Best soft play Bristol North
Boing! Softplay Family Centre, Lockleaze
- Location: Boing Soft Play Lockleaze, c/o The Hub, Fedden Buildings, Gainsborough Square, BS7 9FB
This little soft play centre in Bristol has been designed exclusively for families with children aged 0-5 years. As well as the kids play area, you’ll find a creative area containing books, and a cafe where you can sit with a cuppa while your kiddos play within view.
Entry to the cafe with soft play is really cheap and grown-ups get unlimited tea and coffee for a quid. Check out their timetable for a wide range of activities, sessions, toddler groups, breastfeeding support and baby clinics. They also host kids’
If you need to stretch the day out, once the little ones have had their fill of the Boing Softplay Family Centre, there’s a playground over the road and a tiny library next door.
<<Best playgrounds in Bristol>>
Skyboat Cafe Redland
- Location Skyboat Play Cafe Bristol: 4 Harcourt Road, Bristol, BS6 7RG
This boutique, children’s play cafe in Redland opened in 2019 and provides a play space that is refreshingly as much about the kids as the grown-ups. Zoned areas have been designed in light, bright colours, with soft play equipment for under 7s, a story corner, role play area, and a sensory room with bubble tube and mood lighting for babies and crawlers. On the menu you’ll find great coffee, superfood salads and tantalising treats.
The Elmgrove Centre Bristol
- Location: The Elmgrove Centre, Elmgrove Rd, Redland, Bristol BS6 6AH
The cafe and play area here are hired out for kids’ parties (up to 8 years). The soft play bit has an indoor ball pit and a slide, and accommodates up to 20 (including adults). The adjoining tea room has seating and is ideal for serving drinks and snacks but can also be used for meetings and workshops.
Jump Cribbs Causeway
- Location: Jump Bristol Cribbs Causeway softplay, 22 Concorde Road, BS34 5TB
At 22,000 square feet, Jump soft play Cribbs Causeway is one of the biggest soft plays in the country. Housed inside a gigantic industrial unit, there’s tons of space for kids to run wild in, although it’s a little lacking in natural light as can be customary with the bigger soft plays.
It does serve its purpose though in entertaining the little ones and understandably is a children’s soft play party favourite. It has everything – climbing, sliding, whooshing, inflatables, exploring, balancing, bouncing, clambering and a massive squishy labyrinthe.
There’s also an indoor football pitch and dedicated baby and toddler play area, where the youngest of the pack can totter freely. A big cafe area serves up all the usual suspects – beans, chips, burgers and a passable brew.
AirHop Cribbs Causeway
- Location: Airhop Trampoline Park Bristol, Unit 5 Britannia Road, Patchway, BS34 5TA
AirHop Bristol is a gigantic trampoline park with a dodgeball area, basketball court, obstacle course, foam pit, Gladiators-style battle beams and wall-to-wall trampolines. In short, this is where leaping dreams come true. Okay, it’s not technically a soft play centre, but it’s indoor and has lots of soft stuff to play and ping on!
Standard Jump sessions for over 5s allows children access to all areas of the park. For the under 5s, AirHop run indoor toddler play takeovers, called ‘MiniHoppers sessions’, where pre-schoolers (aged 6 months to 6 years) can have the place to themselves without the big kids from 10am-12pm Monday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10am-12pm, school holidays 9-10am.There are also additional toys, ride-ons, mini football goals and basket ball hoops.
Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre soft play
- Bradley Stoke Soft Play North Bristol location: Fiddlers Wood Lane, Bradley Stoke, BS32 9BS
Kids can burn off steam at Explore Play Bradley Stoke, which offers three floors of kid-friendly soft play fun, including a dedicated fun adventure play area for babies and toddlers.
For little daredevils over five years old, Bradley Stoke soft play also have an XHeight Adventure Climb featuring 16 challenging, themed climbing walls, plus a five metre high Giant’s Staircase. AND to really wear them out, there’s also onsite pool fun to be had – check out the Bradley Stoke swimming timetable – the baby pool here is renowned for its warmth!
Bradley Stoke soft play parties don’t seem to be on offer anymore, check out sister leisure centres Yate Leisure Centre soft play and Kingswood instead.
Atlantis Soft Play Yate Leisure Centre
There are two levels full of fun activities for 0-9 year olds at this soft play in Yate, as well as a dedicated toddler area.
Yate leisure centre parties in the soft play are possible Monday – Friday, from 9am – 7pm and weekends between 9am – 7pm.
>>Birthday party ideas for kids in Bristol<<
Thornbury Garden Centre Soft Play
- Location: Dobbies, Milbury Heath, Wotton Under Edge, GL12 8QH
A garden centre with soft play – I love a place where you can get something done for yourself, but also tick if off as a family day out. Reward your adulting with a coffee and cake from Thornbury Garden Centre soft play cafe while the kids explore the soft play for a bargain £2.
It’s worth pre-booking your soft play session online – Thornbury has no walk in spaces available until after 2.30pm and if you’ve promised them a children’s play area, you sure as hell better come good one one if you want to save your sanity.
Soft play parties are bookable here too.
Safari Rock Soft Play Thornbury
- Location: 2 Horseshoe lane, Thornbury
Safari Rock soft play café is based inside St Mary’s Shopping Centre in Thornbury. You have a husband and wife team to thank for the brand new (open end of Jan 2023), small soft play, who opened the place after realising there wasn’t a local soft play with decent coffee and Wi-Fi.
Safari-themed, the structure is aimed at 3-9 year olds and is set over 2 levels, with slides, ball pit with blaster and obstacles to get through, over or around. The soft play with baby area has been designed to include sensory objects, blocks and puzzles.
The play zone will also be open to sensory specific groups on Sundays, including understanding dyslexia, ADHD awareness, mini first aid, breastfeeding clinics and more.
1 hour-long party packages are available from the end of March.
Cattle Country Adventure Farm Park, Berkeley
- Location: Berkeley Heath Farm House, Berkeley GL13 9EW
As well as cute farm animals to coo over, Cattle Country has two indoor play barns where kids can swoosh, slide, leap and flip.
A brand new 800 SqM indoor play barn is opening late Spring 2023, replacing the Toddler Play Barn and Beach Barn. As a result, both are currently in the process of being taken down. The Top Play Barn is still open though, and you can hire it for both winter and summer (including the splash pool!) children’s parties.
Outdoors, there’s lots of scrambling action to be had on the climbing net, ride-on mini tractors, willow maze, Berkeley Castle-esque adventure frame and a boating lake.
Best kids soft play Bristol – South
Bubble Soft Play Cafe Bristol, Bedminster
- Location: Bubble Play Cafe and Soft Play, 148 East St, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4EW
The Bubble Play Cafe Bristol is located on East Street and is a soft play with restaurant down below. Kids aged between 6 months and 10 years can have a go clambering around the multiple platforms, gadgets and sensory experiences while their grown ups tuck into treats like freshly-prepared omelettes, sandwiches, American Pancakes, milkshakes and Bubble Teas off the Bubble Play Cafe menu.
Call Bubble Cafe Bedminster if you’d like to host your child’s party there.
Hartcliffe Gymnastics Soft Play
- Location: Gymnastics Centre Hartcliffe accessible only from Teyfant Rd, Bristol BS13 0RF
The location of Hartcliffe Gymnastics Centre may feel quite random when you’re driving out there, but bear with it. Once you arrive at the car park (there’s loads of free parking) and make your way inside the sports centre there’s a whole world of springy indoor play for toddlers.
They offer two types of parent and toddler indoor play sessions: a 1.5 hour free play session, where toddlers can explore the gym apparatus, plus bouncy castle, tunnels, toddler soft play equipment, slides and so on. The other is a 45-minute structured classled by qualified coaches.
Birthday parties are possible to book on Saturdays.
Axis Trampoline Club, Bedminster
- Location: 14, Liberty Industrial Park, S Liberty Ln, Bristol BS3 2SU
Based in an industrial warehouse – which never sounds appealing, but you tend to get used to it when in search of baby soft play entertainment – Axis runs baby to preschool soft play sessions.
Axis is Bristol’s biggest trampoline club and basically looks like a massive kids indoor play area! Some trampolines have foam pits to ping into, and there’s a really long trampoline that you can run the entire length of. During the soft play for toddlers‘ sessions, soft mats and other equipment is placed out as a free-for-all, as well as toys for babies to play with.
Every morning there is a non-structured pay-as-you-go, family fun session for preschoolers (aged 0-4/5). Adventurers sessions (for 2-4 year olds) are also drop in (always useful)– see Axis Bedminster timetable here.
Freedog Soft Play Bristol, Bedminster
- Location: Freedog Soft Play South Bristol – 2A-C, Templegate Park, Mead St, Bristol BS3 4RP
If you’re looking for a day’s worth of indoor play for kids, Freedog should sort you out! It’s known for its gigantic trampoline park, foam pits, ninja course, dodgeball courts and slam dunk lane but there’s also a three-storey high big soft play for kids aged 0-10 years, PLUS a ‘Puppy Pen’ – an area of the soft play suitable for babies.
It’s a good soft play for toddlers and babies – especially if you go to one of their ‘Puppy play mornings’ (for 0-5 year olds), which start with an hour on the trampolines (9.15 to 10.30am) followed by 2 hours of Soft Play and arts and crafts in the café.
A cafe next to the entrance lets you sit and watch your tinies race around while you marvel at their energy over coffee and cake.
iPlay Soft Play, Knowle
- Location: iPlay Soft Play Bristol, Broadwalk Shopping Centre, Broad Walk, Knowle, Bristol BS4 2QU
iPlay Bristol has a two-storey play area where little ones can run along rope bridges, crawl through tunnels and swoosh down slides. There are also big bouncy balls, tunnels, bouncy pads, revolving platforms as well as a dedicated area for under 3s.
Cowtastic at Farrington’s Farm
- Location: Cowtastic Farm Park and Playbarn, Farrington’s Farm Home Farm, Main St, Farrington Gurney, Bristol BS39 6UB
Located in rural Farrington Gurney, Farrington’s Farm is home to a fabulous farm shop, cafe and children’s playbarn, with pick-your-own events taking place all-year round.
Inside the children’s soft play area, young adventurers (up to 12 years old) have three fun-packed levels to explore here, including a huge multi-lane slide and ball pit, death slide, tunnels, towers and rope skywalks.
A completely padded baby area caters for 0-2s, while the toddler play area is split over two levels and has a soft play slide and ball pit plus lots of other obstacles.
Refuel with light bites and lunch made with locally-sourced and homegrown produce in the play barn cafe.
Good soft plays in East Bristol
Be weird, be wild, be wonderful Playhub, Longwell Green
- Be Weird, be wild, be wonderful play space Bristol – 129-133 Bath Rd, Longwell Green,BS30 9DD
Not a soft play as such in the traditional sense, more a cafe with baby play area – but a lovely one! This indoor play centre for kids offers natural resources for children to explore, with space for babies and toddlers.Grown ups can nourish themselves with treats from the lunchtime cafe menu.
Choose between ‘Everyday Play’ sessions, ‘Creatively Curious’, ‘Baby Play’ for under ones or book onto Little Pumpkins Playtime for structured stay and play sessions runningMonday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Galactica Soft Play Kingswood Leisure Centre
- Location: Soft Play Kingswood Bristol, Church Rd, Soundwell, Staple Hill, BS16 4RH
Kingswood Leisure Centre Soft Play has two levels full of fun activities for children aged 0-9 years, and a dedicated toddler area. Recommended age: 0 – 9 years.
Keynsham Leisure Centre Soft Play
- Location: Temple St, Keynsham, Bristol BS31 1HE
Keynsham Leisure Centre has a fully-enclosed, multi-level padded playground inside, where your child can play, climb, crawl and slide to their heart’s content. There’s also a smaller under-threes area with a range of sensory equipment suitable for babies older than three months. You don’t need to be a leisure centre member to visit.
Avon Valley Adventure and Wildlife Park, Keynsham
- Location: Pixash Ln, Bath Road, Keynsham, Bristol BS31 1TP
If you’re looking for a jam-packed day out with kids, Avon Valley is great whatever the weather (although please note they are not open all year-round). As well as acres of outdoor fun (including the terrifyingly huge Avon Valley death slide), there are also lots of indoor places to duck into on a wet day.
Avon Valley soft play is located next to the cafe, inside a huge play barn with rainbow wave slides, drop slides, rope swings, a canon arena and a toddler village for under 5s. You’ll also find a bouncy castle undercover in one of the tents outside.
Once kids have finished racing around the Avon Valley play barn, there are all kinds of animals to encounter outdoors, as well as air pillows, a mini jeep safari, electric quad bikes, obstacle courses, a miniature railway, tractor rides and playgrounds, plus themed events and activities throughout the year.
*Private Play barn party bookings are now open until the end of June.
Wookey Hole Caves, Wells
- Location: The Mill, High St, Wells, Wookey Hole, Wells BA5 1BB
Once you’ve gone underground and witnessed a breathtaking underground world, spectacular caverns and the famous Witch of Wookey, there’s above-ground attractions to explore!
Animatronic dinosaurs greet you on your way out of the caves, a 4D cinema whips you through its latest adventure, a live circus show is set to wow. Wookey Hole Soft Play Wizard’s Play Castle is gigantic withthree soft play zones spread out across the top floor of the Old Paper Mill.
Indoor soft play Bristol City Centre
Jungle Mania Soft Play Bristol, Broadmead Galleries
- Jungle Mania Bristol City Centre, G8, Union Gallery the Galleries Shopping Centre, Broadmead, Bristol BS1 3XD
Located on the ground floor of the Galleries Shopping Centre in Broadmead, you could use this soft play in town as a bargaining tool for good behaviour on a shopping trip? Wishful thinking?
Inside there is a two tier soft play structure with LED spiders web, ninja course, ball pit, large slides and separate baby and toddler area with a musical roundabout.
The ‘Tree Tops’ cafe overlooks the play area, so you can refuel while your little ones wear themselves out.
Best soft play near Bristol
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, Wraxall
- Location: Noahs Ark Soft Play Bristol, Clevedon Road, Wraxall, BS48 1PG
Young animal enthusiasts will love seeing the big zoo animals at Noah’s Ark, including tigers, rhinos, giraffe, bears and elephants. There are also smaller farmyard animals to encounter, some of which can be held and stroked.
Afterwards, you can let the kids loose in the ginormous Noah’s Ark Soft Play complete with 3D beehive maze, slides, ball pit, rope bridges, trampolines, tractors to drive and jungle den for under 5s. There’s also a straw barn where they can swing from ropes and land on a mound of straw.
Similar outdoor activities include bounce areas, adventure playgrounds, including a ‘unique’ elephant slide, sand pit and giant maze.
Cadbury Garden Centre soft play, Congresbury
- Location: Soft Play Cadbury Garden Centre, Smallway, Congresbury, Bristol BS49 5AA
Garden Centre, soft play and a Pets Corner. That’s a winning parent/child combo right there! Start with achieving your grown-up gardening to do list, then treat the youngsters to some time in the BRAND NEW Cadbury Garden Centre play area – which looks freaking immense by the way – the new soft play features a wooden structure, with giant trees and slides whooshing out of it, a climbing wall area, rope nets, a sweet little baby and toddler area and a lots of fun.
The Cadbury Garden Centre New Soft Play will open at the end of January/early February 2023.
Puxton Park Soft Play, Hewish
- Location: Cowslip Lane, Hewish BS24 6AH
There’s so much to do at this wildlife and adventure park that you’ll need a full day to get round it all. The indoor play area for kids is spread over three floors and one of the largest in the South West, with slides, fireman’s poles, rope swings, ball pits, death slides, wavy slides, curly slides, tunnels and obstacle courses.
Under threes can hang out in the toddler area, with baby slide and air-blasting ball pit. Cafe tables are lined up in full view of the soft play area, so you can keep an eye on the wild rugrats while you relax.
For the rest of the day, there are animals to pet in the discovery barn, tractor rides, a bouncing pillow, trampolines, mini merry-go-round, a miniature train, crazy golf, numerous adventure play areas, bumper boats, a pedal kart track, diggers, a boating lake and water activities, dodgem-style cars, high ropes course and lots more!
Home Soft Play hire Bristol
If you’ve got space in your garden, rather than hire a soft play venue for your kid’s party, you can recreate it in the garden! Softplay Bristol provide private hire soft play equipment, bouncy castle hire and a very popular Minion mascot.
Choose between small soft play, large soft play and disco and soft play – hire is for two hours. In my opinion this is the best baby soft play to go for!
Popular play cafes Bristol that are now CLOSED
Sadly the following indoor play areas, soft plays and cafes with children’s play area are now closed.
- Kudacan Bristol
- Playful Cafe Bristol
- Kidz Play Cribbs Causeway
- Jungle Chums soft play centre, Thornbury
- Milk Shed Baby Cafe Bristol
- Cheeky Monkeys soft play Bristol
- Kemps Garden Centre Soft Play, Jacqs
- Rhubarb Play Cafe Bristol
- Little Giggles Yate Soft Play
Read more:
- Indoor activities Bristol: rainy day fun for kids
- Bristol’s best kids’ playgrounds
- Buggy and pram friendly walks around Bristol
