No hope for return of Staffordshire Go Bananas centre

Go Bananas in Smiths Close shut unexpectedly on January 16 amid a dispute between the centre owner and landlord.

Attempts have since been made to sell the business while a petition to save the centre has been signed by more than 250 parents.

Play centre boss Tim Hall claims the closure and loss of 14 jobs is down to the landlord forcing the business out with no prior warning.

London & Cambridge Properties (LCP), which owns and manages the site on Burntwood Business Park, said Mr Hall was evicted from the premises because of three months' unpaid rent, a claim Mr Hall denies.

Spokesman Andrew Barrett said: "Since he took occupation of the unit on July 8, 2014, he has failed to make rental payments three times on the due dates and in addition paid with a cheque that was returned unpaid in December.

"On each occasion, LCP has had to send in enforcement agents to recover the rent, which has resulted in further costs to both the landlord and to Mr Hall, who had a tenancy at will agreement, which meant that the tenancy could be terminated at any time."

Mr Barrett added that the company had tried to work with Mr Hall over the rent problems and had issued a warning that failure to pay would result in the business being evicted.

Mr Barrett said: "On January 9 , LCP instructed enforcement agents to change the locks on the unit and Mr Hall was informed that his tenancy had ended."

However Mr Hall claims he only owed two weeks of rent when he arrived at the building to find the locks had been changed.

He said: "I owe 1st - 15th in rent, that's all I owe, just a couple of weeks.

"I'm fighting to try and keep the landlord for a soft play company to use that unit otherwise Burntwood will loose an indoor soft play company.

"I have 26 people who wanted to take it over and one buyer wanted to buy the unit outright from the landlord and he said no."

Petition organiser Donna Acton said: "As a mum myself with of children. I want somewhere safe, clean and a fun environment and Go Bananas ticked all the boxes. We need a soft play centre in Burntwood."

However Mr Barrett said: "The playzone is located on an industrial estate and two owners have now failed to make the venture a success, which indicates that this is not the right venue for such a business.

"The property will be remarketed to attract a warehousing or industrial business."

The play centre firm put up equipment at the play centre on Ebay for an initially listed price of £40,000 last week.

Yesterday, it was still being advertised on the company's Facebook page.