Hickory Dickory’s Playhouse

I visited Hickory Dickory’s for a children’s birthday party. It’s location may not be immediately obvious; it’s at the ‘far-​end’ of Kings Heath High Street, by the Sun at the Station, behind a large EasyGym and Homebase. It’s inside a large warehouse that must have had a previous life as a B&Q or such forth. The exterior is industrial and dirty, and the path to the entrance is an annoyance for those arriving on foot, in that one is forced to cross the road twice unnecessarily. I guess most people drive here though; it’s designed for the motorcar.
As soon as one steps inside, one is overwhelmed with the cacophony of noise emanating from all of the children playing, and visually greeted with a garish sky blue and yellow combo that they’ve used on every surface. The onslaughts of visual and aural stimulation are so great that, smaller children may be taken back and require an amount of time to adjust, before they feel comfortable.
The main attraction is a three-​story high soft play area with slides, things to climb up, mazes and a ball pit. I did notice that one netted crawl-​through bridge had been broken and fixed with duct-​tape. I didn’t trust the strength of the duct-​tape, so stood underneath it as my daughter crawled through.
There is a separate smaller two-​story high soft-​play area for the under fives, so as they don’t get too intimidated by the big kids, and a small area reserved for babies to crawl around in. On the opposite side are four numbered party tents, so as they can run several birthday parties simultaneously.
They have a tannoy system to communicate to parents, and children about times for party food, and occasional instructions about playing safely. Unfortunately, the speakers reverberate in the warehouse so all one hears is white noise with an occasional audible word.
At one end they have a café, well stocked with organic baby foods, juice, fruit-​shoots, slush-​puppies, and an abundance of sugary snacks. The service style is fairly slow and careless. I tried a pizza and some potato wedges, both of which tasted like they had been brought at the £1 aisle in Iceland. It served a purpose though, and the parents seemed to be pleased. For the kids’ meals, we were given a choice of «something» and chips (the something being a choice of, either chicken nuggets, fish fingers, or pizza), followed by a pot of ice cream.
Despite my cynicism, the children really enjoyed themselves, the soft-​play area is much larger than one would find at a Wacky Warehouse and there was nothing wrong with the food, it’s just as grown-​ups we compare it to what we pay at the supermarket for similar quality.
If you have small children (under 11), I would recommend visiting Hickory Dickory’s, that is if you don’t get dragged to parties there anyway. It would be a perfect rainy day activity, but I understand the place gets very busy on rainy days; so perhaps it would be better to go on a sunny day and make the most of it whilst it’s quiet?

Worth going here definitely! Very often busy as the price is fair and its
very big. Amenities very extensive and safe aswell. Great place to encourage
your kids to socialise. The climbing structures are very big so always best to accompany under 3 year olds on these. The only minor issue is parking at peak times as its so popular.

I’m from a generation that derived a great deal of pleasure from hanging around in warehouses, getting hot and sweaty to loud music. It’s somehow fitting, then, that we now take our kids to precisely the same sort of places, but instead of illegal rave drugs we feed them sugary sweets, wind them up, and watch them go.
In fairness, this place is also fairly fun for the adult. There are slides, ball pits, and a small five a side football pitch. My boy loves it here and it’s a solid gold gaurantee of a worn out child!
The best tip I can give you about this place is that you should dress for HEAT. The higher you climb up the apparatus in this place, the hotter it gets. At the top level (which is a good 30 feet from the ground) the heat is comical. I made the mistake of going there on a very cold winter day with a pair of long johns under my jeans. Big mistake.

Toddlers and small children will love this place. In this huge indoor playground small ones can let off steam and keep dry at the same time. There are different play areas to suit different ages and tastes. Babies and very small ones can have mum and dad nearby with them in their own low-​level area, kitted out with soft-​play items, and small slides.
Older toddlers and big boys and girls can run riot around the rest of the area clambering, exploring, tumbling, and swinging. The deep ball pool is a great place to hide while someone else tries to seek. Or you could go on a sortie to find foam balls to fire at targets from an air-​power cannon. Have a conversation with the Tube-​O-​Phone, why dontcha? A netted area is set aside for small-​scale football matches, and a huge colourful, wavy slide sits against the far wall.
Food? A café offers snacks and meals, and hot and cold drinks. Skip the healthy options and fill up on chips and baked beans. Active kids need their carbs!

Hickory Dickory is heaven for children. It’s also not too bad for adults as there’s a café and seating area. It’s a lot bigger than the Tumble Jungle, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how keen you are to lose your kids…
It’s probably more suitable for school age children due to its size — it would be very easy to lose a toddler amongst its slides/​climbing frames/​tunnels etc. There is an under 5 play area, but the whole complex is more set up so that parents can relax while children are out of sight & mind — not something you might want to do with an accident prone 2 year old.
It’s more expensive than the Tumble Jungle on Lifford Lane, but it is bigger and with more equipment — now including some little cars (although there’s only 2 or 3).

Our family love this place, with a few exceptions! The things we love are:
Loads of places to play. There’s an under 5’s play area that has a tunnel, play house, play kitchen and a really cool ball pit. Not only that, but there are three slides, climbing frames, padded bits to hit and tunnels to crawl through in the air.
The older play bit has a gigantic blue slide that is really fast, as well as a football pitch with netting, two trampolines to bounce away on, and that’s just for starters. It is possible to lose your child for a good few minutes amongst the maze of places.
They’ve now also added some little tikes cars to zoom round in (beware of toddler tantrums as there are only three) and a couple of small rides at £1 a go as well as air hockey.
For parents, there is a great café that stocks a wide range of food from the usual burgers etc to Hipp Organic goodies. I can vouch for the hot chocolate and cakes-​very tasty. On the counter at reception are also complimentary newspapers and magazines to read whilst your children go mad, though they have to be returned for others to enjoy after you.
It’s good value and offers toddler specials on weekday mornings during term time
which are £3.50 — £3.65 (including parent/​guardian) between Monday-​Friday entry between 9.30am and Midday.
The bad thigs are:
It can get REALLY busy at peak times like after school, during holidays and at weekends and there are usually LOADS of birthday parties going on. Parking at busy times can also be a bit of a nightmare.
At peak times it’s limited to a 2 hour visit, although I don’t see this as a problem. We’re usually ready to leave after a couple of hours anyway.
All in all though, a great way to spend a couple of hours and for kids to expend some energy.

Great place to take the kids to let them have a few hours of fun. Soft play area for under 3s and also for the older children. They sell food at very reasonable prices which tastes great! Definately recommend a visit

This is a really good ‘play barn’, although I wouldn’t go to it on my own with my two kids as it is very big. It has a great variety of play equipment for both the under 4s and the older kids. My four year old particularly loves the trampolines but the slides are fantastic and if it wasn’t for my bad back I’d be on them with her. There’s also a football court and ball pool areas as well. It is large enough for a good run around!
The under 4 area is also quite big compared to the same area at Tumble Jungles and it has a good few slides and playhouses, rockers etc.
The café is really good — with healthy food for both adults and kids and the coffee is also very good.
My only area of concern is that the trampolines get busy and many parents to do not ‘police’ their kids on them so there are often more than one child bouncing. Notices are up saying it should only be one child but if staff are not prepared to enforce this, or don’t have time (which I think is more the case) then the system doesn’t really work.
Overall the staff are friendly and it seems a chilled out place to be with the kids. Manic at weekends, though.

we love this place, entrance price is very reasonable, they let adults go on the play areas with the children (try the big slide!).
They have 2 play areas one for small kids and the other for the bigger kids both are clean and well thought out.
There is plenty of seating and the staff do seem to clean up quite often and food is priced quite good and only takes about 15 mis to arrive.
They also have a microwave and highchairs for younger kids.
on the weekend you may want to get there early as they do get very busy.
The only downside is the car park there is only about 30 spaces and you get clamped if you park in the car park next door (think its a diy store)

Great place — it has lots for children of all ages to do — mine are both under five, yet they really enjoy their time there, and are very worn out when we leave. They serve drinks and simple meals, so you can spend some time there. It has the added security that the doors are locked, you sign in and the doors are monitored by staff at all times.

Have to agree with everything the other review says, it is a great place for kids from babies to 11 year olds. During term time is it around £3.25 for an adult and toddler session which is from when it opens at 9.30 until midday. They usually start some painting for toddlers in one of the numbered areas opposite the under 5’s section. I have also gone during school holidays and they have had things for sale in that area at really good prices.
For older kids it is £4.50 and adults then pay 50p. It is well lit, clean, friendly staff, has a café which sells some nibbles and lunchbox meals for kids for around £3. In the café area they also have a tv screen and some comfy chairs.
The under 5’s section has a ball pit, crawl through caterpillar, house, kitchen and some slides, a nice red one which is quite a big one for toddlers but they seem to love it!
The older section has trampolines, ball pit, football, a massive slide and it is so big if it is busy you will find it really difficult to keep track of children. Plenty of seating though so you can show them where you will be and because you have to sign in and out and only then will the staff at the entrance let you out, you know that kids cant get out on their own.

This place is the king of indoor play centres and apparently the hugely tempting slide is one of the largest indoor kids slides in europe. The activities are great i really wish they would do a mums night, although being five foot two i may get in if i develop a stoop! Indoor football, target practice, trampoline, punch bags and run the gauntlet as well as all the usual suspects. There is a seperate under fives area which is really great and easy to access. You do tend to lose your kids as it is huge but there are loads of easily identifiable staff around so its great and very safe. Food is not bad although basic but hey it is geared towards the kids. Fairly cheap to get in but parking can be a nightmare during busy times, but most people going there are aware of this and are very polite and patient. They do have loads of party rooms which are actually very well thought out and the staff do attempt to play party games with the kids, although most of them just want to get back to the fun. The worst thing about it is trying to find your kids to get out, especially if you have more than one cause it really is a big play area. Mine deliberately hide!!! Overall a great place for taking the kids on a rainy day.