We had our son's 4th birthday party there and I have to say it was excellent. All the children had a great time. The staff were friendly and the party host Andrea was great. Good value for money.
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Review by: Rachel steadman
Date: 19th January 2011 - 09:32
Absolutely extortionate! I joined Gambado as an NCT member when my son was a baby and used to meet my group there quite often. I always thought it was a nice place for children & adults. My son is now almost 2 and today two of my friends came over from Epsom with their toddlers who are the same ages. I suggested that we take the children there for a couple of hours before lunch (Which we would have bought there). All I can say is, I will never ever go back there again. I expected that my friends and their children would be allowed to come in as guests on my registration card and was prepared to pay £8.20 entry for each child and adults entry totaling £24.60 (which is extremely expensive for 2 hours play for 3 babies but I was prepared to swallow the cost to enjoy a lovely afternoon with friends) Firstly I was told that I could not pay for my guests there would have to be three separate transactions which was disappointing as I wanted the afternoon to be my treat. Then I was told that the girls would have to register individually as they could not come in as my guests. I tried to explain to the manager that this was pointless considering they are not likely to be coming back it was going to be a one off visit for them. The total cost for a 2 hour play session was going to be £14 for each of my friends and their babies and £8.20 for myself and my son - an absolutely STAGGERING £36 for three 2 year olds to play for 2 hours - DISGUSTING! Then rather than negotiate, the manager simply refused to accept that it was totally unnecessary for my friends to register and pay a registration fee and allow me to simply pay £24.60 - the jumped up 17 year old said my only option was to get a refund (So they would rather loose out on our custom - great business sense!) I had by this time paid for myself and my son to enter before realizing that my friends were being robbed, I decided on a refund but was then unable to find my receipt as I had been so distracted by the palaver and the fact that my 2 year old was desperately trying to take off onto the climbing frame, the jumped up 17 year old then refused to refund me because I didn't have a receipt even though I had paid his colleague less than 2 minutes before. I will never enter the premises again and I would urge any sensible parents or carers out there to do the same, there are far better places to go where they accommodate parents and children and are a fraction of the cost. My friends and I spent the day at Crystal Palace park in the end, it was awesome, we and the children had lunch in the very reasonable cafe, we then had a lovely stroll by the lake and saw the dinosaurs before heading to the lovely little farm which is free! I am disgusted that this place should be allowed to totally rip its customers off!!!
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Review by: Michelle
Date: 23rd July 2010 - 15:36
Cost - I was charged £17.10 for myself and my 3-year old son. This compares to an average of ~£4 a session for others near where I live.
Soft play -
pluses: it's quite big.
Minuses: the layout is poor, with several dead-ends (more than once my son went down one of these and said 'daddy, where do we go now?'. That's not something I've found at any other place.
The maintenance is poor. I found rubbish inside the soft play (again, very rare to find this). None of the buttons were working inside; some had been removed entirely, others were just broken. The ball cannons, for shooting foam balls, were unuseable.
Dodgems - poor. The operator was unmotivated to see that the children enjoyed themselves on it, and preferred to bite her nails. She said that she refused to venture onto the surface because she'd had electric shocks off it - hardly reassuring. Parents weren't allowed to be close enough to interact with their children when driving their cars, other than by driving them themselves (which defeats the object).
Carousel - good. Standard fairground carousel, enjoyable.
Toilets - good (although none of the sinks was at child height).
In total, I feel like a fool for paying the money. Gambado's advertising makes out that it's a cut above normal soft play; in fact, it's a cut below. There are much more enjoyable ways of spending £17
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Review by: Dan
Date: 12th July 2010 - 10:02
its half term, 2 kids, what do you do? my friend suggested gambados, so we gave it a try. My kids are now converted. we used to go to the spa and adventure kingdom, but not anymore, they seem tiny, dirty and boring compared to gambados. they is bundles for the kids to do, 2 fairground rides including in the entry price and one huge play frame, sorry nearly forgot the rock climbing wall. i sat back and enjoyed a good latte and read a book, was a tad noisy, but it was half term and busy. am looking forward to returning, so i can finish my book. to staff were very efficient, as it was busy but they were friendly and helpful and boy do they do a good job, as i dont think i would be able to work there, with all the kids! but as a parent you get the impression that they love working there which is rare in the other play places
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Review by: jenni
Date: 19th February 2010 - 22:50
its great
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Review by: luke
Date: 6th April 2009 - 13:13
I went to Gambado on satuday to beat the weather with my 4 kids. My husband got to watch the rugby and I caught up on all the papers whilst the kids had a great time. The staff were helpful and friendly to us all and the kids came away exhausted and laden down with balloon models. It did take a bit of time to queue up for food but all in all a good, safe place for us all to go. I printed off their special offer for a family membership on thie website which made it much more affordable.
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Review by: Andrea
Date: 9th February 2009 - 13:10
I just had my little boys party at Gambado Beckenham and I have to say that despite reading some of the comments below it was brilliant. From start to finish our party host Hazel was fantastic. She made LJ feel very special and even made him a giant ballon model of Donald Duck- his favourite. The food was good and served on time and Hazel made the birthday cake ceremony very special. All I had to do was relax. I would recommend this as a venue especailly with the offers they have on parties at present.
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Review by: Helen
Date: 18th December 2008 - 15:45
I would not recommend a party at Gambados in Beckenham. It was awful. To start with there was no where to park as there was a football match going on so all the spaces were taken (although it does say that it is only for Gambado people). The party host (v. pleasant guy) was dealing with two parties at the same time so could not find him half the time, so not all the children got their wrist bands, had to deal with my guests coming into Gambados as he was not there to greet them - basically no-one knew what they were doing. I had to ask when we were goin to eat as all the kids were hungry, they were running late so the kids sat down late. The party food was a load of junk and it was just a bit rushed. They could not provide a knife to cut the cake (as it was dangerous) but they had candle lighters on the table (obviously they think they are not dangerous) so I had to cut the cake with an ordinary knife. I felt it was just a conveyer belt of parties and they were quick to rush you away. I will never be having another party here again - and I dont think my friends will be either as they were not impressed. For the prices they charge you expect a little bit of service and I can honestly say I did not like it one bit.
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Review by: Nikki
Date: 25th November 2008 - 16:06
We had our son's birthday party on Sat Oct 4 and were assigned a party assistant for the time we were there. From the beginning, it looked like we would hardly see the guy as he vanished on several occasions. He gave us the wrist bands to add to the children's arms and then disappeared. The kids went off to play - we expected our food to be ready by 5.15pm and it was ready an hour later! Okay, the kids get an extra play but as staff began to drift off so the rides (dodgems and carousel) were closed. Eventually our helper was tracked down and managed to find the balloons that weren't there, the sandwiches that weren't there, the party bags that weren't there etc etc. All in all a total DISASTER. Never ever book Gambados, they haven't enough staff and have an total lack of customer service. My wife is writing a complaint letter as I type - what's the betting we get zero comeback? One star for kiddies play - that's the lot
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Review by: Keith B
Date: 6th October 2008 - 14:11
The soft play part is brilliant, and the carousel and "dodgems" but the cafe lets it down. The food is fine - relatively helathy - but the service is incredibly slow and you can wait a long time for the food. Good place to come but avoid eating here. You're not allowed to bring your own food.
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Review by: Bronwyn
Date: 17th September 2008 - 09:03
I had a party here and 5 of the children became ill near to the end of the party from the food they were given by gambado. They denied it was to do with them and told me it takes over 2hrs before the effects of food poisoning appears. Very disappointed with the mangement and also i found the premises to be very dirty. I would not advice taking your children here at all.
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Review by: Mr Parkin
Date: 3rd September 2008 - 18:14
Gambado is excellent for parties, we have now had two at the Beckenham site - they are not cheap but they are well worth the money per head if you take in to account how good the staff are and the quality of the party bags. We live in a flat with no garden so a party here is a brilliant alternative to one held at home!
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Review by: Sam
Date: 13th July 2008 - 16:33
There just isn't anywhere that compares to Gambado as far as my kids are concerned. They have all had parties which have been brilliant.
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Review by: Rachel
Date: 11th December 2007 - 08:49
I tried to organise a party for my children and I found the staff helpful to begin with!!! Be Careful there are no refunds once you book, no one tells you this incidently!!! The party was very expensive for what little the children received and unknown to myself more costs were incurred due to additional rules being added once I had paid. Just a note only 1 adult between 4 children doesn't work when the children are very young and parents do not wish to leave them with practicle strangers! I will not be using Gambado for parties ever again.
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Review by: AJ
Date: 26th October 2007 - 07:42
the date we come was on the 16th feb 2007...i thought this place was great even know the place was busy but at half trem wot can i say the staff were brill and even know there tills werent working i think they handled it well i found i had a porblem when i was there with the food not that was anything worng with it lol. the fact was i couldnt ,ake up my mind want i wanted so i ask to speak to the chef the and he come out and he gave me all the helped i needed so thanks to him. this is a great place for the kids and crazy for the adults but great all round place thanks to every one....
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Review by: sandy davis
Date: 16th February 2007 - 18:31
A really excellent soft play centre, the best I've been too (and I've been to a few!!) Lovely play frame with lots of different things to do, climb, slide down etc. Adults are allowed on to help with their kids and seem to have as much fun as the wee ones. There is also a carousel and dodgem cars that they can go on at no extra cost (admission is £6).
The cafe is reasonably priced and the food good. Could do with a few more seats when it's really busy though.
Web site is: http://www.gambado.com/beckenham.html
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Review by: Jo Stacey
Date: 12th October 2005 - 20:42
