PLAY Planet Dunfermline have now found out they should be able to open their doors to families and children again next month.

The owner of the indoor soft play centre, Jennifer Perella, said the business had been left in the dark during the pandemic and admitted there were fears for its future.

Last Thursday they were finally given a date, September 14, when they should be able to re-open after a long period of uncertainty and what she felt were mixed messages

However, she admitted she was "baffled" why children can go back to nurseries and schools with no social distancing or sanitising regime, as well as pubs and restaurants with their parents, but can't go to soft play centres. 

She continued: “Scotland have confirmed that children do not need to social distance indoors or outdoors. Scientific studies point to the fact that there have been no cases of children passing coronavirus to adults.

“Because of this, the play frame is not an issue – so removing that from the equation, we are a cafe just like many others in Fife with an abundance of space for adults to socially distance.

“We have implemented so many measures over the past months and potentially much more than nurseries or schools will be implementing in August.”

Play Planet Dunfermline opened at Queen Anne Street in December last year – above The Ball Room pool and snooker hall – and enjoyed a successful four months before the coronavirus outbreak halted all progress.

Indoor soft play businesses closed on March 23 and nine members of staff have been furloughed in Dunfermline.

Jennifer added: “We have put a lot of our personal money into this project.

“Play Planet is our baby and to not be confident in its future is heartbreaking.

“The people of Dunfermline were crying out for something for kids in the centre and the feedback we were getting was amazing – we were doing better than we could have imagined!

“Unfortunately, we only managed to trade for four months before lockdown forced us to close.

“Our wee business was going from strength to strength, and now we’ve been completely stopped in our tracks.

“The government have touched on how important play and social contact is for children but don’t seem to think it’s important enough to provide them with any safe space to do any of these things.

“We can’t wait to see all those happy wee faces again!”