It Takes a Village Play Cafe

My 2yo daughter and I just had our first visit to ITAV, and we’re extremely impressed! The staff were fantastic and went above and beyond; facilities great; coffees and baked goods, delicious (although our muffin wasn’t shared as much as I’d hoped); little shop and branding was on point too! Looking forward to returning

We absolutely love It Takes a Village in Walthamstow. We’ve been bringing our son here since he was about 9 months old, and now at 2 years old it’s still one of his favourite places to visit. What really stands out is how thoughtfully the play space caters to different ages, especially toddlers. There are so many activities and toys that are perfect for his stage of development, while also being engaging enough for older children to enjoy too. Even though we come two or three times a week, he never gets bored and is always excited to go in. The staff are another huge highlight. They are so warm, engaging, and genuinely lovely with the children, and our son is always delighted to see them. The café is excellent as well. The coffee is really great, and I really appreciate the care they take around safety with hot drinks. They’re also very clear and conscientious about allergy information, which makes eating there much less stressful for parents. Overall, It Takes a Village is a fantastic soft play space and café, and I would highly recommend it to any family with young children.

I really wanted to love this place, but unfortunately our experience left me feeling disappointed. The space itself is fantastic and very well suited to babies and young children. It’s spacious, has a separate room for prams. However, the lunchtime session felt far too rigid. I completely understand that small businesses need structure and need to operate profitably, but this felt like a system designed around processes rather than the reality of young children, who are anything but predictable. We booked the 11:00–12:30 session and were told food orders had to be placed within the first hour. After spending the first part of the session settling the children and encouraging my youngest (10 months) to engage with the play area, I then spent around 20 minutes queuing to order food. The queue itself wasn’t particularly long, but there didn’t seem to be enough staff to cope with demand. Food then took another 30 minutes to arrive, and unfortunately part of our order was incorrect. When my youngest didn’t like the food, I went back to order an alternative, only to be told orders had closed. I explained that I’d already purchased food but simply needed something she would eat, and asked whether I could give her a sandwich and some blueberries I’d brought with me. The answer was no. By this point we’d spent nearly £40 on entrance for 2 kids and 3 meals yet my youngest had only managed around 20 minutes of actual play time because so much of the session had been taken up by queuing, ordering and dealing with food issues. I think this could be improved significantly by either increasing staffing levels during the lunchtime sessions or extending the session length. At the moment, there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time to settle young children, order and eat food, and enjoy the play facilities without feeling rushed. Or as another reviewer has said ‘a corkage fee’ for under 1’s. The wait, the hanger, the inflexibility left us feeling out of pocket and disappointed. There is a lot to like about the venue itself, which is why this was so frustrating. A little more flexibility and a bit more capacity at busy times would make a huge difference.