Little Monkey Bizness

About

Start with the crawlers' area, because it is what regulars single out and it explains why this room works differently from the others here. Babies who are not yet walking get a walled-off zone of their own with bench seating along the edge, so one adult can sit with an infant and still watch a two-year-old on the other side of it. Beyond that the space is banded by age rather than thrown open, with climbing and a bounce house at the bigger end and an art room for the child who would rather make a mess than climb.

Parties are the other thing this place is known for, and the pattern is unusually consistent for a claim that flattering. Six different families describe the same afternoon: a host who decorated the room, set out and handed round the food, wrote the birthday child's name up on the board, and cleared the lot away afterwards. More than one says the only job left to them was inviting people.

The hard edge is the age ceiling. Eight and under, enforced at the door, which means a nine-year-old in the family cannot come in and play alongside younger siblings even as a spectator. Better to find that out now. Shoes come off for everyone, adults included, so bring socks for the whole party the first time; the reviewers who forgot are the ones who mention it. Toys get described as kept in repair and floors as clean often enough to be a pattern rather than a good day.