Soft play cafe coming to Bognor Regis this summer

A cafe featuring baby classes, toys and a soft play area is coming to Bognor Regis this summer.
Jessica Smith and her children outside the Bedford Street venueJessica Smith and her children outside the Bedford Street venue
Jessica Smith and her children outside the Bedford Street venue

The Little Piggies Cafe, which will open up in Bedford Street, is the brainchild of 33 year old mother of two Jessica Smith, who moved back to Bognor Regis after a career in film and TV production. She said she wanted to create somewhere parents and children could enjoy in equal measure, serving lattes to the grown ups and toys to the little ones.

“If you’ve got children in Bognor, there aren’t really a lot of places around that have everything in one place. You have lots of amazing little baby groups you can go to, lots of sensory stuff and toddler groups, but they’re all very separate. You don’t really have much soft play for under sixes around here, either. If you want to go somewhere, you have to go to flying fortress and that’s massive. So I kind of wanted to create a hub, something that puts everything under one roof.” She said.

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Alongside serving cakes, coffees and sandwiches, Ms Smith hopes to use the upstairs part of the cafe to host baby groups and kid-friendly exercise classes, which she hopes will give Bognor’s parents a chance to meet up and socialise. Among the groups she already plans to host is an exercise class designed to let mums exercise with their children, giving them a chance to work off the baby weight, without organising a sitter.

“If you’re doing any of the classes, you can meet up with new people, new mums, which is obviously important because parents haven’t been able to do that recently.” She said.

That sense of community will be central to the ethos of The Little Piggies Cafe. “I want it to have a community feel to it” Ms Smith says “I’m kind of going for a homely vibe with it. It’s run by me and inspired by my children, so I want to have photos of my family up on the walls and everything.”

Ms Smith had originally planned to launch the cafe last year, but, with lockdown looming, decided to hold off.

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Now, though, with the vaccine roll-out in full swing, she hopes to be up and running by early June. That is, of course, assuming the government’s ‘road-map’ out of lockdown proceeds as planned.

“It’s a huge worry, but I think, with anything, there’s always going to be that risk. It’s just a chance you’ve got to take really.” She said.

“There’s only so much holding off you can do. I just thought we’re a year in, things are looking positive regarding the vaccine and, to be honest, I don’t see how we can possibly go backwards.”

To find out more about The Little Piggies Cafe, visit it’s Facebook page.