Mace Playce — Attraction in Chelmsford

We held our daughter's 4th birthday party here at Mayce Playce. To tell you the party was a hit would be an understatement. It was absolutely wonderful!!!

As we'd recently moved house, i felt really unprepared for the party and worried we hadn't made enough effort. In a bid to redeem myself, i bought a whole bunch of party deco from Amazon. I REALLY DID NOT NEED TO!!! The private party room we had was beautifully decorated and table settings for the kids looked colourful and fun. The host who greeted us and took care of us and our guests was approachable, friendly and so helpful. We paid extra for a special character guest to join us and a super gorgeous Peppa Pig came. She hugged and took pics with the kids and even had a little boogie with them along with the host. The birthday girl was over the moon with the surprise. We also paid extra for 2 vegetarian platters (food for kids is included in party price) for the adults and also for party bags for the kids. Our guests commented on how good the contents are. And the food was more than enough for the 13 adults and 14 kids who came.

The fun at our Mace Playce party didn't end with just the awesome party room and great host (not to mention Peppa - the highlight of the day), but the actual soft play area that we and our guests had access to too. There is an area for under 2s which my 1 year old loved and the area for the older kids is huge and jam packed with fun. It was a mission trying to get the kids out when the party ended. They loved it so much they want another...

We took our children here this afternoon and will be the last time myself or my children step foot in this place. What was meant to be a nice afternoon of soft play turnt into an embarrassing and extremely upsetting situation for us, my son age 6 who is autistic non verbal was screamed and shouted at by a member of staff here, absolutely disgusting! When my husband explained there was absolutely no need no scream in my sons face he is autistic and can not communicate his reply was I can see his autistic and maybe we should keep our eyes on our son! We was ordering food and I had turnt my head for a matter of seconds. So vile and disgusting! We had to take our children out and leave all the food we had paid for, my son was very shaken up and did not know what was going on, this is not acceptable! I will be making a complaint, I want our entry fee reimbursed and the food we paid for, I will also be filling a report with the police as this behaviour is not acceptable, no 6 year old child deserves to be screamed at and verbally assaulted, specially a disabled child. We had also booked a birthday party here for my son which I will be cancelling. This member of staff let this company down massively today and I will be taking this further, you discriminated against my son and is totally disgusting you should be ashamed of yourselves, also would like to add that this...

Two years ago I left a glowing review for this venue and unfortunately felt the need to come on and change it to reflect my current opinion of Mace Place. My six year daughter has said she doesn't want to go back because it 'stinks'.. and it really does.. of stale urine. When we were there a few weeks ago it was overcrowded and tables were so tightly packed together it felt claustrophobic. Other than the vacuuming, I didn't see anyone clean a single table or piece of equipment in the two hours I was there. Toilets were filthy and there was no soap in the dispensers. Staff were chatting away behind the counter whilst tables were left dirty and older children were playing roughly in the toddler section. None of the staff wear masks or hair nets whilst serving food..which is find very off-putting as many of the women serving and cooking the food have long hair. Food is overpriced and bad quality. I ordered beans on toast for my daughter and the toast was cold and the beans were stodgy like they'd been sat in a pot for a few days.

Parking is a nightmare - there are not enough spaces and it's dangerous to cross over from the b&q carpark opposite as cars go down the road very quickly.

I want to like this place because I believe it is a great asset for our town but I feel that the Mace family have lost their passion and drive to keep it...