Gulliver’s Play Café is a new venture which opened in Cranbrook on 3^rd August. We were due to open back in March but this was delayed due to lockdown. We are so happy to have finally opened our doors and since 18^th August, the play areas about been opened as well. We are loving seeing the happy families enjoying good food, hot and cold drinks and most importantly playing together!

Gulliver’s play café was created by Seth and Katie Gulliver and we wanted to combine our passions into a business.

We love family and food!

We were both born and bred in Kent and East Sussex and have been together for 17 years and counting!

Seth has worked with food since he was little and his favourite job was working as catering manager at Bodiam Castle - seeing families on their days out, creating memories with each other, and his catering team bringing joy to them through healthy, tasty food.

When we had children ourselves we couldn’t wait to do the same - soft play visits, days out at castles - but we found the fun-level lacking when we visited cafés, even ones supposed to be for children!

We didn’t get that same sense of joy.

And the reasons seemed pretty clear - most of the space was what you’d find in a regular café, then the traditional picket fence, some artificial grass and an awful lot of toys piled up. There was no separation of toys and the more confident children dominated the popular ones.

Result: squabbles and stress.

If your children aren’t having a good time then it’s impossible for you to relax and create memories!

As Katie is a clinical phycologist specialising in young children and we’re both big believers in imaginative play, we decided we could do better.

We’ve created the kind of place that embraces kids of all ages and gives them their own space. There are also games and toys that can be played at the table with your family, if the play areas are too busy.

From simple building blocks to gender-neutral figures, you’ll find a lot of toys designed to spark children’s imaginations, along with puzzle games to play at the tables.

As we continued to design our space, we realised there are lots of other areas in general cafés that could be more child-friendly, so kept the theme going throughout!

We’ve lowered tables and chairs; installed a special toddler- friendly loo; got comfortable seating for breast-feeding mums; and we’ve even built our loyalty scheme around the children.

These details all pull together to create somewhere that children want to visit and where their grown-ups can relax.

Exploring & learning through food

That’s not all!

We love food and even more love sharing it with others, so we’ve created a menu with your children’s favourite meals. Plus there are chances to explore new ingredients and flavours.

Most importantly we make our meals in a professional kitchen with trained chefs, so you can genuinely taste the freshness in every bite.

We got help from the experts with our menus - children from Yalding Primary School gave up some their playtime to share their thoughts on the type of food they would like to see on a menu.

Everyone’s welcome

We don’t mind if you’re tired and just want a place to drink award-winning coffee while the children create something at the building bar.

Or if you have a group of hungry children in need of feeding and letting off some steam.

Gulliver’s is the place for you.

Overall you’ll find a friendly atmosphere for children and adults to enjoy fun times with great food and drink in a setting that really puts the children first for once.