1 /5 Seham Khalifa: Today I had a shocking, humiliating, and completely unacceptable experience at Salt Hill Activity Centre with my children.
This place has a serious issue with racism, discrimination, and extremely poor staff behaviour. Children are not allowed to start on time, and around 15 minutes is regularly taken from sessions that parents have fully paid for. When I questioned this, the response was rude, aggressive, and disrespectful.
Instead of resolving the issue professionally, staff treated my children badly and escalated the situation unnecessarily. I was spoken to in a discriminatory manner and made to feel targeted and unwelcome.
The situation became even worse when a male staff member accused me of filming without any evidence and demanded to see my personal mobile phone, which he had no right to ask for. When I refused, the interaction became intimidating.
During this confrontation, offensive and disrespectful comments were made about my religion, which was deeply insulting and completely unacceptable in a public family facility.
I was then forced to leave the centre without any valid reason. Even while I was calmly speaking to my friend to say goodbye and preparing to leave, the same staff member kept following me, pressuring me, and repeatedly telling me to leave immediately. This behaviour felt like harassment.
What makes this even more upsetting is that I was planning to pay for the soft play area so my children could continue enjoying time with their friends. However, due to the staff’s behaviour and their insistence on removing me from the building, I was denied this opportunity despite having done nothing wrong.
I was made to feel intimidated, disrespected, and unfairly removed. The overall environment felt hostile, unsafe, and racist.
I have visited this centre before and never experienced anything like this. Based on what happened today, I strongly warn families against visiting this place. Serious action is needed to address the racism, religious discrimination, and unacceptable conduct of staff.