Rush
Trampoline Parks launches strategy for re-opening on Saturday 1
August despite confusion over whether it can open
RUSH, 1 of the UK's
leading trampoline park businesses with parks in High Wycombe
and Birmingham has set out its plans for re-opening the business
on Saturday, 1 August 2020, despite being overlooked by the
Government last night with no indication in its guidance
yesterday about whether trampoline parks are included in the
businesses that are able to re-open on or after the 25 July
2020.
Phil James, Group Head of Operations, said:- "The
Government has completely overlooked our industry with no
guidance on whether we are able to re-open. We know that indoor
gyms, gymnastic facilities, fitness and dance studios and indoor
sports venues and facilities are able to open but there has been
no indication as to whether this includes trampoline parks. We
know many children are keen to re-visit trampoline parks to
exercise and have fun after being at home for many months. We
have contacted the Government for clarity however we have been
passed to the sports and enquiries team with no response as yet.
Rush was 1 of the 1st trampoline parks to voluntarily close its
doors due to COVID-19 and the business is struggling due to
impacted revenues. It's imperative that the Government provide
us with this clarity on when we can re-open so the business has
a chance of surviving."
In the meantime, the team at Rush are preparing the business for
a possible re-opening on Saturday, 1 August 2020, and will be
completely changing the customer experience to ensure customers
and staff are safe and can practice safe social distancing.
Rush will be following the International Association of
Trampoline Parks's re-opening guidelines and upcoming Government
guidance closely and plans to implement a phased re-opening
strategy with a number of new measures being introduced
following on from a consolation with its staff and customers.
Phil James continued:- "The guidance for gyms is to have
100sq ft per person so with our parks being 30,000sq ft and
35,000sq ft we are preparing for a limited capacity of
approximately 80 jumpers per session and up to 80 spectators. We
urgently need the Government to release guidance for this."
Rush will also be introducing a huge number of news measures to
keep customers and staff safe, but still able to visit and have
fun at the parks. Rush recently polled 1,100 of its customers
and 79% said they will visit the park once it re-opens and 42%
have missed the experience of visiting Rush over the last few
months since closure.
Rush will also be offering 200 NHS and key worker families the
opportunity to visit the park for free for the first 'session'
every day for the 1st 2 months that it will be open as a thank
you for the service provided to society throughout the
Coronavirus crisis. Commonwealth gymnast Dominic Cunningham will
also be re-opening the park with a virtual re-opening ceremony'
once a date has been set.
The new re-opening safety
measures will include:-
► A completely new customer journey
throughout the park to ensure social distancing while moving
around.
► A phased unlocking of the business
with significantly reduced capacity and opening hours during
each phase.
► Temperature checks for all staff.
► PPE equipment for all staff.
► A contactless sales and drive thru
'checking in' process with online booking only.
► An intense 'always on' cleaning
schedule including a significant number of hand sanitising
stations in the park and enhanced cleaning schedule with a 30
minute break between each jump session.
► All customers will be required to
watch a remote video in how to use the park safely and practice
social distancing and will sign up to a 'pledge' to follow
social distance guidelines.
Implementing a new 'age' restriction policy.
Children under the age of 4 will not be able to visit the park
at all due to the fact they are less able to practice strict
social distancing. All children under the age of 12 must have an
adult member of their family supervising them at all times. This
age 15 and under need to have an adult present with them in the
building.
A new 'Social Distance
Director' role has been created for each jump session
and the member of staff will be ensuring children are following
good social distancing in a fun way.
Over 1.5 million jumpers have visited a Rush park over the last
4 years and the business had experienced its best ever February
in 2020 with over 22,000 customers in the February half term
alone. This week Rush Birmingham won the:- 'Best Family
Activity and Entertainment Centre' category at the UK
Enterprise Awards.
The 1st phase of Rush re-opening will see the business being
open with a significantly reduced capacity. The Rush restaurant
will be closed and café will serve snacks and hot and cold
drinks only. The soft play centre in the High Wycombe park will
also remain closed.
Phil James, said:- "The indoor leisure sector has been
significantly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and it was
absolutely devastating to go from one of our best ever month in
February to being closed in March this year. We urgently need
clarity from the Government on when we can re-open. By releasing
our plans for re-opening, we want our customers to be reassured
that Rush will be as safe and clean as possible. While we are
lucky in that our trampolines are at least 2m apart and our
parks are huge so children can still enjoy Rush safely, we still
have a huge challenge in keeping the business afloat and we need
our customers to support us when we do re-open to ensure long
term viability of the business."
On Merseyside we have a number
of attractions like this including a trampoline park Flipout
Aintree, directly behind
the Racecourse Retail and Business Park who are also waiting for
the green light to open. Plus we have many soft play centres,
like in Southport, Playtown Southport, Momma's House and others,
all are facing huge problems now. Playtown Southport
said:- "We are NOT and have NO intention of closing
Playtown permanently. We have had a couple of messages from
people spreading this on Facebook. We can't open as yet due to
the government not allowing us to do so, but we want to ASAP and
will try our best to. Thank you to everyone for your amazing
show of support we really do love each and every 1 of our
customers."
If the lack of clarity
continues and no help is given soon, it’s estimated by October
65% of soft plays won’t reopen unless help is given soon. Most
of these locations are viable businesses, yet, as with many, the
Government is not helping them. If this issue of help is
affecting your business, no matter what it is, please do let us
know via emailing us to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com.
Total UK cases COVID-19 cases - update for Liverpool City Region
and surroundings
THE total number of UK
Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections that have been laboratory
confirmed, within the UK, has risen by
820 cases and the total
number now stand at
288,953, that includes tests carried out by
commercial partners which are not included in the 4 National
totals.
Daily number of COVID-19 associated UK fatalities added to the
total, was sadly reported to be
148 according to the Department
of Health. The total number of deaths of people who have had a
positive test result confirmed by a Public Health or NHS
laboratory is
44,798.
In England, there are a total of 248,895 confirmed cases. North
West - total of 43,336 confirmed cases. The number of laboratory
confirmed cases within the following Local Authorities, in and
around the Liverpool City Region are as follows:-
► Liverpool, 2,458 confirmed cases.
► Sefton, 1,513 confirmed cases.
► Wirral, 2,034 confirmed cases.
► St. Helens, 1,196 confirmed cases
► Halton, 691 confirmed cases.
► Blackpool, 1,025 confirmed cases.
► Blackburn with Darwen, 1,054 confirmed cases.
► Bolton, 1,852 confirmed cases.
► Bury, 1,284 confirmed cases.
► Cheshire West and Chester, 1,971 confirmed cases.
► Cheshire East, 2,200 confirmed cases.
► Lancashire, 6,729 confirmed cases.
► Manchester, 2,938 confirmed cases.
► Oldham, 1,873 confirmed cases.
► Rochdale, 1,624 confirmed cases.
► Stockport, 1,634 confirmed cases.
► Tameside, 1,529 confirmed cases.
► Trafford, 1,257 confirmed cases.
► Wigan, 2,132 confirmed cases.