RIO Olympic medallist Bryony Page sprang into action to officially open a new trampolining centre in Newport.
Bryony, aged 25, a silver medallist in Rio gave the centre at Newport Retail Park, Spytty the thumbs up after testing the new facilities opened at Spytty by Energi Leisure Parks last weekend.
Bryony, from Sheffield, wearing her silver medal, said: “The facility is great and provides a safe and fun environment for those wanting to enjoy trampolining. Anything like this which encourages people to get into trampolining and to exercise has got to be a good thing.”
The new centre has developed more than 20,000 sq ft in part of what used to be the Zap Zone area of the former Megabowl into a new multi-use leisure park.
The rest of the space of the former Megabowl is taken up by Home Bargains and Exercise 4 Less.
The Energi Park features connected and angled trampolines, Olympic grade tramps, Clip ‘n Climb interactive climbing walls, a Ninja warrior area, giant foam pits, hanging rings, balance beams and columns and a huge air bag landing area resplendent in giant Welsh flag. A large video screen dominates one wall showing sports and all the action from within the arena. There’s even a soft play are for those too young to take to the main court as well as four dedicated party rooms available for hire.
The centre also has a large mezzanine café giving panoramic views over the park with plenty of comfortable seating to enjoy a wide range of hot and cold food and drinks in. It’s a perfect space to relax in and watch or just chill out and take a break from the fun.
Simon Maycock, of Energi Leisure Parks, said: “We’ve invested nearly £1.75m in our latest park and have created around 75 full and part time jobs. We were particularly impressed with the calibre of the candidates we interviewed when recruiting staff for our Newport park. The team has now been together for a couple of months, training and learning about their centre and we are convinced that we have a strong line-up in place who will deliver a top class Energi customer experience.
“An important element of all our developments is the effort we have put into building relationships with our partners and suppliers. A great deal of thought goes into ensuring that our staff are thoroughly trained and that the parks feature the best and safest equipment available and we are delighted that in Newport we have again sourced virtually everything from UK companies.”
Mr Maycock, who has previous involvement in successful businesses in Newport, said the entire fit out of the shell unit had taken 14 weeks from start to finish.
“We probably took just an hour to make a decision on this unit when we were introduced to it by Haydn Thomas, of Hutchings and Thomas. We knew the potential immediately and we very quickly agreed terms for a 25-year lease with our landlord Otium Real Estate who continue to develop and improve Newport Leisure Park.
“This location suits our profile perfectly with easy convenient access and plentiful free car parking for customers. The busy nearby retail park and planned residential development is ideal.”
Energi Leisure Parks have three other centres, at York, Wilmslow and Preston, and have instructed Hutchings & Thomas to source potential new sites for their rollout programme.
Haydn Thomas, of Hutchings & Thomas Chartered Surveyors, Newport, said: “The former Megabowl with its clear open space offered Energi the perfect canvas on which to create what is an ultra modern multi use trampoline and sports centre.
“The location close to major routes, including the M4 plentiful free parking on their doorstep and the retail park nearby made this the ideal location. We’ve now got to find more of these sites for Energi to roll out their programme of openings.”
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