Buying a soft play centre?

Soft play centres are usually valued on a multiple of maintainable earnings, adjusted for the condition of the play equipment, the length of the lease and the strength of the local catchment. Lenders like to see consistent admission numbers, party bookings that repeat year after year and income from café sales alongside the entry fees.

Yes — most soft play centres are leasehold, and lenders fund them against provable weekly takings and the lease terms. A long lease with a fixed rent, or one with recent rent-review history you can point to, makes the application stronger.

It can. A well-maintained play frame carries real asset value, and lenders will take it into account when structuring the package. It is also worth checking who owns the equipment at the seller's end — if it is on a hire purchase or lease agreement, that needs to be settled or transferred as part of the deal.

Ask for the annual play-equipment inspection reports (ROSPA or an equivalent inspector), the emergency file, public liability insurance, food hygiene rating if there is a café, and an up-to-date fire risk assessment. Lenders will ask about these during due diligence, and a clean compliance record makes the whole purchase smoother.

Lenders understand the pattern — weekends, school holidays and parties carry the trade, while term-time weekdays are quieter. What they like to see is that the busy periods comfortably cover the quiet ones, and that the business manages it with things like toddler sessions, after-school offers and party deposits spreading income across the year.

Twelve months of till and booking-system data, party bookings in the diary, the equipment inspection history, the lease terms and remaining length, staffing arrangements and local competition. We help you shape this into a robust funding application before you commit, so your offer is backed by indicative terms rather than guesswork.

Most soft play centre acquisitions are funded with a deposit of around 20% to 30% of the purchase price, though this varies with the strength of the trading figures, whether the deal includes freehold property, and your own experience. Where there is property security or a particularly strong trading history, lenders can sometimes go further.

Yes. Specialist acquisition lenders will lend against goodwill where the trading history supports it, which is essential for leasehold deals with no bricks-and-mortar security. The application has to be presented so the underwriter can see the sustainable, transferable earnings behind that goodwill.

Indicative terms are usually available within 48 hours of your enquiry. A full offer typically follows within two to four weeks, with completion driven mainly by valuation and the pace of the legal work on both sides.

iLendi Capital is an acquisition finance and loans broker, not a direct lender. We work with buyers across the UK to prepare their funding applications, introduce them to the lenders most likely to approve them, and manage the deal through to completion. We also specialise in government-backed facilities, helping you secure up to £2m toward your purchase.