Flip Out Preston: the trampoline and activity park on the ring

One of two trampoline parks in the city, and one of the most searched entries in this directory.

Flip Out Preston is a trampoline and activity park in the city. It is one of two such venues here, the other being Energi at Queens Retail Park, and between them they carry most of the trampoline park trade in central Lancashire.

The activity park format — trampolines plus climbing, foam pits and obstacle elements — sits alongside two related venues in the directory: Ninja Age on the assault course model and Wacky World on the soft play one.

All four are indoor and commercial. For free outdoor alternatives the parks and outdoors index is the place to look.

Why this sits where it does

Height is the whole constraint here. The trampoline grid sits at floor level, but the clearance above it decides the building, and that clearance is why these venues take modern portal-framed sheds rather than anything older. A Victorian street pattern cannot supply the volume at a price the format can carry, so the trade went to the ring.

Trampoline parks are the tallest of the formats: the grid itself is floor-level, but the clearance above it is what dictates the building, which is why they take modern portal-frame sheds instead of converted premises. Preston has two of them, this one and Energi, which is more than a city of this size would have supported before the format arrived in the 2010s.

Getting there, and who it suits

The ring road is what makes this address work: quick from anywhere in the district by car, and awkward from everywhere by anything else. Parties book in groups and arrive within ten minutes of each other, which no bus timetable is built to do. A party of ten arriving in three cars is the format's normal traffic, and the site was chosen for that and nothing else.

On age range this sits with the older half of the category. Ninja Age covers the middle, and Wacky World the youngest; the split matters more than the branding when a group spans several ages.

The free alternative: Haslam Park

The quiet alternative is Haslam Park in the north west, the city's Edwardian park, with the Lancaster Canal along one edge. It is the least visited of the main parks by anyone from outside Preston, which on a full Saturday is the whole of its appeal.

Preston's other trampoline venue is Energi on Queens Retail Park. Two of this format in a city of this size is more than the population alone would support, and the explanation is the catchment: Preston draws from South Ribble, Leyland, Chorley and the Fylde.