The Liverpool mum of three at the head of a North West play centre empire has shed light on her company's £1m expansion plans for a site near the banks of the Mersey.
Cheryl Cosgrove, 49, started her career in banking before opening Fun Town in Garston in 2010. She launched Velocity in Widnes five years later with the help of husband Steven.
Cheryl told the ECHO the Widnes inflatable park is "a huge success" and added: "It really catapulted us into the industry. Within eight months we opened a second site in Wigan then the opportunity came to buy the site in Otterspool."
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Now operating as Otterspool Adventure Centre, Cheryl and Steven have had planning permission for a new 4,000 sq ft building at the site to further expand their offering.
Once complete it will house a small petting zoo, as well as providing more space for events. The move is expected to create 15 jobs.
Cheryl said: "The last seven years has been a labour of love. We've invested £3m to date and we've now got another £1m with the new building.
"The land was not being utilised and obviously with the Great British weather we need a little bit of cover."
Completion of the new building is scheduled for mid to late-April 2023 and will allow Cheryl to forward plan for the growing events side of the Velocity business. Her venues host a new event each month, with Easter, Halloween and Christmas proving the most popular.
She said: "The new building will offer shelter to make them bigger than they already are.
"We're already looking to expand Halloween to an 'evening scare event'. We've kept it for under 12s so far, but we want to bring it into the evening with possibly teenagers and adults.
"People are just looking for more things to do. We've give some customers a sneak peak on social media and they're super excited."
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