Snakes and Ladders Reviews 

I very rarely leave bad reviews, but after what I witnessed here recently, I feel I have to say something.

I was at the soft play with my family last week when I saw a young child run straight out through the main entrance. What shocked me most was that a member of staff was at reception and appeared to make no attempt to intervene. The child’s mother immediately ran after him, but the fact that a child could get out of the building so easily in the first place is extremely concerning.

There also seemed to be very few staff members around that area, and unfortunately, the attitude of the staff from the moment we arrived was not reassuring at all.

What made the situation even more upsetting for me personally was finding out that the child was autistic and non-verbal. I’m a SEN mum myself, and all I could think was, “That could have been my child.” It could happen to any family, and when you’re dealing with a child who may not understand danger or be able to communicate, having proper safety measures and attentive staff is absolutely essential. It only takes seconds for a situation like this to turn into something devastating.

The mother was clearly extremely distressed and overwhelmed. I stayed around for a while because I wanted to see whether staff would offer her any reassurance or support. Sadly, I found their response very disappointing. Rather than showing empathy or taking responsibility for what had happened, their manner and body language came across as defensive and confrontational, which seemed to make an already distressed parent even more upset.

I honestly left feeling shocked. This was somewhere I had previously felt comfortable bringing my children, including in larger family groups, but after witnessing this, I would not feel confident returning.

Children’s safety should never be something parents have to question, and families — particularly those with additional needs — should feel that they are somewhere safe, understood and supported.

For me, this incident showed a serious lack of awareness, empathy and inclusivity, and I really hope management takes what happened seriously and reviews the safety procedures and staff response.

I wish I could give it a 0 stars, unfortunately that’s not an option, but that’s where I stand…

I am extremely disappointed with my experience at Snakes and Ladders Soft Play and, unfortunately, I will not be returning.

The venue appeared to be lacking sufficient staff, and I also had concerns about the general level of hygiene and cleanliness. However, what concerned me most was an incident I personally witnessed involving a very distressed mother and her young son.

I saw the mother become extremely upset after discovering that her son had managed to leave the property through the reception area. What made the situation even more concerning was that, from what I witnessed, a member of staff was present when the incident occurred. The mother had to run out of the door herself to look for her young son, and I did not feel there was enough urgency or concern shown by the staff in response to such a serious situation.

I was particularly disappointed by the unprofessional way the situation appeared to be handled by both the manager and the staff involved. As a parent myself, I felt awful for the mother. When parents take their children to a soft play centre, they should feel reassured that there are appropriate safety measures and attentive staff in place.

This experience has seriously affected my confidence in the venue. I would especially be concerned for families with children who have additional or SEN needs, as these children may require even greater awareness, patience and appropriate support from staff. Based on what I witnessed and my overall experience, I do not feel comfortable returning.

I hope management takes these concerns seriously and reviews both staffing levels, hygiene standards, child safety procedures and the professionalism of staff and management.

I have been to Snake and Ladders in Brentford many times and have brought my children here to play without problems. Unfortunately, after today's experience, I will never come back.
I paid £47 for three children to play for just two hours. As usual, when we arrived, I asked my two older children (7 years old) to watch the younger one for five minutes while I got organised, and then they could go to the area for older children.
A member of staff came over and told me the older children were not allowed to stay in the younger children's area because it was for children up to five. Fine — I called them out and told them to go and play in the older children's area while I stayed with the younger child.
A few minutes later, the older children came back and told me they weren't allowed to play there without an adult accompanying them.
So what exactly am I supposed to do? Be in three places at the same time?
If you have children of different ages who need to use different areas, this policy makes the whole visit practically impossible for one parent.
I explained that I wasn't happy and decided to leave. To be fair, the staff apologised, accepted my request for a refund and told me the money should be returned within five days. My complaint isn't about the refund or a few pounds. I drove here specifically for my children to enjoy themselves, and I paid £47 for two hours of play.
What makes it particularly disappointing is that I have visited around five times before and never experienced this problem. It was not like this before.
I genuinely would not recommend this place even to my enemy if they have more than one child. And even with one child, if the expectation is that the parent cannot sit a couple of metres away, have a cup of coffee and watch while their child plays, I really don't understand what I am paying £47 for.
Children can play with their parent constantly beside them in a park for free, or they can do the same thing at home. The whole point of paying for a children's play centre is for the children to have some freedom to enjoy the facilities safely while the parent can supervise reasonably.
After being a repeat customer, today's experience has completely changed my opinion of the place.
I will never come here again, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

DON’T USE THEM
we have the party of the little one,attending only 4 kids they promise refund rest of the 6 never happend . however we been fine with that after i request just 2 coffees complenatary as we have only 4 kids we been denied.
People smoking the small area that have connection with our party next to the children and nobady bother with this.
Is absolute crazy honestly no security staff dont bother that much anything can happend there.
So parents that you care about safety of your kids and services please dont go there
Emil

Very happy with the service, food and the organisation of the party for the second year in a row. Very flexible and helpful management.
We got stuck in a traffic and were late for 30 minutes as most if the guests and they moved the start of the party 30 minutes ahead for us so we didn;t lose any time. I'm very grateful for making my childs birthday special and not letting him down.
Last year I didn't book the party room by mistake and just booked a slot for the whole list of guests and the management organised the party food for me and helped to make it look like a party even though it was just the tables in the main hall.
Very much appreciated Snakes and Ladder Brandford!! Thank you!!

Tried to make a booking online without success to pay, came to the playground and had to pay £5 because payment is done on premises (this is in 2022)
The tables are dirty, the floors are dirty and its cold in the hall, all this and the price for 2 children and 2 adults £32.40! And for what? I an talking about the Dunstable branch!
You better drive to Luton in the mall they have a playground and I pay £18.40 and you cannot compare it
Please avoid, you will be disappointed 100%

I have attended family friends kids celebration, I did like the size of the games in the hall and I am glad my kids enjoyed their time

Selabrated my dauthers birthday there. I had booked 2 rooms. Service is really bad, they rush you to get out from the room, so new people to come in.
Because they were busy to rush us to cut the cake, and get out, staff forgot to give to the kids part of their meal. The portions were so small, even for kids. Snakes and ladder is not good place to spend your child birthday. Not recomending at all.

Well very expensive £10,85 per kids no food or drink and £4,85 per adults it is crazy.
Parties room like funerals place no music no happy birthday even
and room should be cleared from kids within 30 minutes.
They were expecting us to feed the kids and cut the cake in 30 minutes

We were invited for friends son bday party. All of us we were waiting by entrance to get in as the line before didn’t move so fast. Birthday kid name was spelled wrong. Kids was playing. As my son was younger then the other kids we went for other more suitable playground and wanted to try that electric rides where we needed put money in. For one was sign “ Out of order” but one wasn’t working and staff kind of didn’t understand what we wanna from them! Anyway no luck there! After less then hour kids was playing in soft play, the party group was called upstairs. Obviously the name was told wrong and so unclear msg in uncleared language was told. Obviously it took a bit while to get all kids together so they could say this msg earlier like 10min before calling us upstairs. We went for firefighters room. The young girl(staff) who stayed with us looked like she was after previous night party! She supposed to be there to make sure that everything is running smoothly but instead of that she asked us to serve our kids - we refused because it’s her job ! The food was very poor - sandwiches which wasn’t even enough if the kids would eat 2 each, chips was bit cold , chicken nuggets 2 and 3/4 each 😱 sweet snack bars which supposed to be one each from both choice it wasn’t enough to get one of each ! And fruit yoghurt was missing ! ( as we been here previously for bday party so I know how should be ), tomatoes and that few grapes on table looked bit rubbish( bit off ). In middle of the meal we asked - where is music 😮 then this young girl started to think how to turn on! Before the game she told bday kid mum that it’s time up and we all need leave the room 😱😱 but it’s still 35min till party over ( and usually we been staying in the room till 2hrs run out ), then she went and spoke with other “kid” ( young girl ), when returned then told - ok as you were late coming upstairs you can stay here 30 min more.!!
Sorry , but it’s not favour the mother of bday kid paid for that to stay there ! Then the game “ pass it on” she didn’t explained what and how to do to the kids !!! After that it was cake time she didn’t helped parents but before that she cleaned out all food from the room - without asking to parents what they would like to do with it ( maybe take away as it’s paid ).
Basically very bad experience!

Not to mention that loads of parents got new babies so they don’t have easy to get upstairs with pushchair!
Party room doors was opened all the time so other parties was passing this room and looking inside even few individuals come in !!

And not to mention that one game wasn’t played because, possible, hangover staff wasn’t bothered!

And everywhere the kid name was written wrong ( on shoes basket by entrance, present bag , on table , was mentioned on radio ) but on goody bag was correct!

And before leaving this firefighters party room instead of goodbye-we were told to leave the building because party is over !!