Failed pub to get a new lease of life as children's fun centre

Published on Tuesday 24 November 2009 08:39

A SHORT-lived Fountainbridge pub is to be turned into an indoor children's activity area after plans to build a new budget hotel were mothballed.

English operator Monkey Bizness is to open its first Scottish centre at the former Brannigans and Waikiki Beach bar at the Fountainpark leisure complex.

It comes after previous plans for a 181-bedroom budget hotel collapsed because of the economic climate.

It is understood that the developer also was not willing to pay tens of thousands of pounds as a tram contribution.

The new Monkey Bizness centre will not have to pay a tram contribution as it is only a change of existing use, rather than a full new planning application.

PY Gerbeau, chief executive of Fountainpark operator The X-Leisure Fund: said "Monkey Bizness will be a fantastic addition to the scheme, which already attracts over three million visitors a year.

"Visitor numbers to Fountainpark have been increasing year on year, but Monkey Bizness will attract even more families, particularly during daytime hours."

Monkey Bizness combines children's play areas, dedicated party rooms and adventure play equipment with a restaurant aimed at the family, serving healthy food.

It has been growing in England, with six centres now open, and it is also planning a move into Glasgow.

The new centre will have an entrance on Dundee Street and work has already begun fitting it out. It is expected to be open for business in January.

It will replace the huge one-storey venue at the south-east corner of Fountainpark, which has been left virtually empty since the ill-fated 1 million Waikiki Beach theme bar closed four years ago.

It had been hoped that the plans for a budget hotel would bring 200 new jobs to the area.

However, one property market source said: "The previous plans were mothballed. It made more commercial sense in the current economic climate, given the difficulties in securing bank finance for new development, to re-let the existing unit on the site.

"The cost of tram contributions for new development was another factor, albeit a secondary one."

The new play centre is a boost to the Fountainbridge area, where a number of major projects have stalled since the recession struck.

It will be next to the Springside development, where hundreds of new homes, student flats, offices and shops will go up.

Monkey Bizness has signed a 20-year lease for the 15,000 square feet unit at a rent that will rise to 70,000.

Gavin Anderson, a partner at Montagu Evans, which acted for X-Leisure in the deal, said: "Being a parent myself, I now see first-hand the attraction of such facilities. These play centres are great for parents looking to entertain their kids on the cold, wet and windy days. It's an ideal business model for the Scottish climate."