Aztec Soft Play on Crown Street in Carlisle is back in business

Aztec Soft Play on Crown Street was closed for roughly six weeks after former tenants were evicted, but owner Lynn Steadman said word got around that they were shut for good.

This is not the case, and she’s hoping to spread the news to families across the city that Aztec is back in business.

“We had it for years and years before Covid, which shut us down, and we didn’t want to reopen it then so we leased it out, which was fine for a bit,” Lynn said, but later shared that this didn’t last forever, and they had to decide whether to reopen it, find new people to lease it, or give up.

“My daughter had just turned 20, and she said to me that she would like to run it, and my son wanted to work there as well.

Aztec Soft Play interior (Image: Aztec Soft Play)

“My daughter (Megan) is the manager, and my son works part time while he studies business,” Lynn explained.

She said there was some false information going around via social media and word of mouth that the business was shut for good, and this reopening caused confusion.

However, the opening few days which were earlier this month were successful, as Lynn said: “It’s been amazing, customers think it’s great that we’re back.

Interior of Aztec Soft Play (Image: Aztec Soft Play)

“We’ve given it a clean and a redecoration, and we don’t know yet if we will reopn the kitchen, but we’ve decorated throughout the place.

“We’ve got an air hockey table because we want to cater towards kids who are older, and we’re looking at maybe adding some high ropes in the future, just an idea at this stage.”

From setting up back in 2011, as an empty building, the work that was put into it to develop it into a fully-functioning and popular soft play centre caused the business to develop strong sentimental value for the whole family.

“It was out baby, and it was hard to watch it go downhill, so it’s nice to bring it back,” Lynn concluded.