Run and Jump is the local independent: a 7,000 square foot play centre on Caroline Street for children up to 12, open since October 2013. The main frame has a 4.2 metre three-lane wavy slide and a separate astro glide, and there is a small football and basketball court for the ones who would rather kick something than climb it.
Prices are simple and low. Under 1s are free, everyone else is £6.50 on a weekday and a couple of pounds more at weekends and in the holidays, and there is no booking. It opens seven days a week, from 10am at weekends, and shuts at 6pm. It does not try to be a theme park, which is rather the appeal on a wet Tuesday.
What it costs: Checked 25 Sept 2026: under 1s free; £6.50 Monday to Friday. The weekend and school holiday price is £8.50 on the home page but £8.25 on the prices page, so expect one or the other. Adult prices are not shown. No booking required.
Worth knowing: Ages 0 to 12, maximum height 1.5 metres.
Looking for more soft play & indoor play near Wigan?
Sending it to the group chat?
★★★★★ 4.4 across 426 Google reviews.
Read all 426 reviews on Google - filter by star rating there
Woodland trails, a big free adventure playground and picnic lawns, with high ropes, adventure golf and seasonal crazy golf as the paid extras. The free bits alone fill an afternoon. The miniature railway is closed while it is rebuilt.
Three colliery spoil heaps turned into a proper nature reserve: a lake with swans and kingfishers, 3km of flat pram-friendly paths, a playground and a woodland trail with a xylophone in it. Free parking, free everything.
Wigan's grand Victorian park after a £6.1m restoration: playground, bandstand, waterfall, formal gardens and an ornate iron pavilion with a Frederick's ice cream cafe inside. Free and right on the edge of the town centre.
Three floors of child-sized town in the Grand Arcade, opened in July 2026 by the people behind Imagine That in Liverpool: a city with an emergency services dispatch, a village supermarket, a dino dig and a slime factory. Dear, but a session is three hours, not one.
Pub soft play at the Red Robin: a tots area, several slides and a big ball pool for £6 a child, with adults in free and the coffee within reach. The cheap, dependable Wigan fallback.
A 28-lane standalone bowling alley on Wallgate with bumpers, ramps and lighter balls for small children, an arcade and pool. Eat, drink and bowl from £8, three games from £9.50, weekends from 9am.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.