Southsea Play Cafe will be officially opening during the Easter holidays including its sensory room

Josie Matthews and Alyson Bert have lived in the city all of their lives and they realised there was a need for a safe space where parents can go with their children who can play freely.

The cafe, which is located on Osborne Road, will be opening on April 8 in time for the Easter holidays and will be a range of things on offer for children to get involved in including a sensory room equipped with lights, a mini ball pit, bubble tubes and a play shop meaning that children can pretend they are working in ‘Mae Brogans’ or ‘Positive Eats’. There is also a reading corner which will have Montessori toys to play with and a range of books to enjoy.

The cafe will be working on a booking basis in order to make sure that every one has the opportunity to access the facilities in a comfortable manner.

Alyson said: ‘I feel very stressed if I am being honest – it is quite overwhelming.

‘We are confident that it is going to be good and we just want to get it right.

‘It has been a year since we came up with the idea so we used to just think about it any spare moment and we wanted to build the idea into a business.

‘It has been really lovely to see the response from people. We are from Southsea and have lived here all of our lives and small businesses are what it is all about so we are really excited about this.’

SEE ALSO: Southsea Castle opens for summer season with free entry

The idea was sparked after the pandemic when the two friends realised there was nothing similar to it in the Southsea area and they decided to take a leap of faith.

The site has been completely transformed into a safe space for families – but when the pair started out, the building was ‘derelict’ and was without water, electricity and had boarded up windows. The pair set up a CrowdFunder and had to create a business plan with the help of Josie’s mother-in-law – and the response has been really positive from locals who wanted it.

Overall they managed to raise £10,000 from the fundraiser as well as secure some council funding which has all gone towards making the space perfect for families. They have recently done a private party for a family as a test run before they officially open and they said that it was nice seeing the space used for something good.

Josie said: ‘We just really wanted to go to something like this in Southsea and we decided that we would do it for ourselves.

‘I think this is the hardest bit and when we get open it will be amazing.’

They will be opening on April 8, 2023 and they will be launching the booking system in the upcoming days.

ALSO READ: Look inside Southsea's new play cafe

For more information visit the Southsea Play Cafe website.