Gateshead play centre opens new nursery and laser tag space after £75k investment

A Gateshead play centre is set to create more than a dozen jobs after securing £75k of funding to open up a new nursery.

Mister Twister’s Jump Centre, in Follingsby Park, has announced that it is opening an OFSTED-approved nursery that will house up to 50 children.

This comes as part of an upgrade to the facility that was funded by a £75k investment from the North East Small Loan Fund supported by the European Regional Development Fund, secured by the NEL Fund Managers.

The new nursery and upgrades - including a new laser tag area and minigolf course - are set to create up to 15 jobs in the first instance, with the centre predicting that more jobs will follow as the business grows.

Michael Taylor, co-owner, commented: “When we took it over, the centre clearly needed a fair bit of attention across the board, and we’ve been working ever since to make improvements and add exciting new facilities that have really changed the atmosphere for the better.

“All the work we’ve done has been designed to give kids the best possible play experience in a location that their parents, grandparents and families will be happy to spend their time too, and the feedback we’ve had so far has been really encouraging.

“With the space we have available, the nursery is a natural development of our service and we think there is a lot of local potential to make more places available in the fairly near future.

“We’ve got many more plans in place to keep adding to the Centre’s play offering and can’t wait to show families old and new everything that we can now offer them.

“NEL are focused on creating and maintaining jobs in the North East, which is what we’re looking to do as well, and the investment team made applying for this capital an almost seamless process.”

Mike Guellard, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Mister Twister’s is a great North East family brand and the improvements that Michael and Samantha have created a venue that customers of all ages will enjoy visiting again and again.”