Why did you decide to start the Arctic Jungle?

In 1998 we went on holiday to Devon and visited a play centre where children and adults could play on the equipment together.

We realised that there was nothing like it at home.

All the play centres we knew nearby wouldn't allow us to join in with our children and they normally smelt bad and there was nowhere for the parents to relax.

We always used to play with our children, we loved it and we found that it was a great way to spend time with our children.

What problems did you face starting up a small business?

We found that it took such a long time to get through all of the checks; lots of landlords are only interested in established businesses.

We were also looking for large premises which would have meant that we would have to change the use of the building from B1/ 2 to D1/ 2.

My children were quite a lot younger then and I was being quite selfish in wanting somewhere near my home.

I wanted to be there as a mum to my two children.

We had made contacts with developers in Tunbridge Wells who eventually found us the site in Crawley.

How did you feel about winning both Small Business of the Year award and Entrepreneur of the Year award?

I was absolutely delighted with the Small Business award, we were so proud of the whole team and how loyal they are to the business.

We are also the only play centre to be investors in people.

We try to operate a 360 degree management and we hope our staff feel empowered enough to take part in all the areas of the business.

We encourage all our staff to reach their full potential and offer fully funded NVQs.

The business can be quite challenging so it's brilliant that the panel recognised we are getting things right.

What does the future hold for Arctic Jungle?

Lots of people think that this is a great moneymaking machine but it is a very hard model to make work, I don't believe we have fully cracked it, I would like to see a more consistent turn over before I started to replicate it.

But we do have a business model that we could use to set up other branches.

What advice would you give to others wishing to start up a small business?

We had invested a huge amount of money in the business so it had to work. It took us from July to November to get the site set up.

We ordered all the play equipment from Canada and bits were missing so it took a long time to put together.

One mistake we made in starting the company is that we thought we would be able to tell a few people and then there would be queues round the corner.

We spent some money on a Mercury Radio campaign and only two people came in it was a very slow start.

In February 2003 we had some dreadful weather and the centre was full, and we thought we had cracked it.

However we went on to have the hottest summer for 200 years and had awful road works in the town centre which affected all the businesses in the town centre.

We have now built up a strong brand as a well managed children's indoor play centre with a good range of equipment and people knew what they were going to get.

But we didn't want to make the mistake of trying to be too many things to too many people.

Have you had to diversify to keep customers interested and attract new business?

I launched Oneclicktocook.com with two friends.

It costs just 25p a week and tells you what to buy and cook each day.

It has recently been promoted in the Daily Mirror.

There are now 1,200 people using the site and we also recommend local businesses that sell healthy food such as Tulley's farm and Bills.

We also hope to launch Juniour Care at the end of the year where we will pick children up from school and look after them until their parents finish work.

We will give them a cooked meal, organise activities and have a homework club.

Do you have any regrets about starting up the business?

I can't say I have never had any regrets, but the trick is to be able to turn it round and fight back and I think we have done that really well.

It takes a lot to realise that customers don't pick up on offers as soon as they come out.

We kept offering new services and then stopping the offers too soon.

But just because something doesn't work this week it doesn't mean it won't work next week.

What makes the Arctic Jungle stand out from other play centres?

We offer a pay and play service for children up to 12 and we are introducing a fast track service.

We offer party hire services for adults and children and we have even had office parties here.

The whole family can come here and interact together in a very safe environment and you can relax.

All our doors are alarmed and the front desk is secure so noone can runaway or be taken from the site.

What are the challenges facing the business on a day to day basis?

Maintaining a high level of service to all customers and visitors and to keep all of the staff motivated.

It's a very big balancing act between costs and turnover and our business is totally weather dependant.

Sometimes we take ten times what we could make on one day so we have to get staffing levels right.

There is a lot of pressure on the team to keep all the children entertained and looked after, it can be quite stressful on busy days.

We are now making good profits and that is entirely down to the way we manage our business; everybody has got different skills.

Arctic Jungle website