Little City Southend opens its first-ever permanent play centre at Scott’s of Southend Garden Centre.

The UK’s first permanent Little City play space has officially opened its doors at Scott’s of Southend Garden Centre this week (Monday 16th February), bringing a brand-new family attraction for local parents and carers.

Located beside the café at Scott’s of Southend on Sutton Road in Rochford, this new play space is a major milestone for the Little City franchise, which is known for its mobile, interactive role-play sessions for toddlers and pre-schoolers.

The Little City concept encourages children to explore a miniature world through child-led, imaginative play, helping to build confidence, social skills and new vocabulary in a relaxed and creative environment.

With a permanent site now established at Scott’s, children can enjoy safe, engaging play sessions while parents and carers relax with coffee, cake, or a range of hot and cold snacks in the extended café area.

Cara Harris is the owner of Little City Southend. She first opened her Little City branch in 2019 and has since welcomed thousands of children through her doors to enjoy imaginative play experiences. 

She says, “Over the years, we’ve taken our Little City set up to hundreds of locations around Southend, from community centres to schools and special needs settings. We’re always pushing to try something new and to make pretend play experiences as accessible as possible for young children.” 

“Opening the first-ever permanent play centre for the brand is a huge milestone for us, because it allows us to offer so much more, from public play sessions to birthday parties and dedicated sessions for home-educating groups and community groups.  I’m incredibly excited by this opportunity, and I’d like to thank Scott’s for coming to us with this idea because it was a no-brainer, and we jumped at the chance!”

Scott Bird, owner of Scott’s of Southend, adds,

“As a family-run business, we care deeply about creating spaces where people can spend quality time together. Little City does exactly that. Seeing children walk through the doors and light up with excitement has been brilliant, and we’re incredibly proud to support Cara in bringing this to Southend.”

Vicki Fletcher, founder of Little City UK, says,

“When Little City was launched, we wanted to make it as accessible as possible so we could take it throughout the community. Cara has always been the pioneer for trying new things within the company, and we’re over the moon that she’s the first of our franchises to establish a permanent play centre. This is hugely exciting for us as a company, but it’s even more exciting for local children and families, who can really make the most of their play sessions, with more availability than ever before.”

The new Little City Southend play space at Scott’s can accommodate up to 30 children per session. It will open daily for public play sessions, birthday party hire, school visits and private hire for home‑education groups and community organisations.

 Families are strongly encouraged to book early via the Little City website to avoid disappointment.

For more information, please visit www.littlecityuk.com or follow @littlecitysouthend